Comatose
by Shadow of an Echo
Summary: When the truth behind Ichigo's power is revealed,who will be there to help him find a path between power and humanity? Old enemies become new teachers. Oh, and Aizen? He was nothing more than a puppet. Canon up to season 3, multi-pairing Yaoi, with no OC's, begins with Starrk/Ichigo but will end up Ichigo/Ukitake.
1. Prologue

**Comatose**

**Shadow of an Echo**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach. This story is purely for entertainment purposes and no money is being made.

**Summery:** At Rukia's failed execution Aizen was stopped and Ichigo thought his mission complete, but soon dark secrets surrounding his own origins come to light. Can the Gotei 13 teach Ichigo how to walk the line between power and humanity? Yaoi/Yuri with a plot. This story was inspired by the Skillet album Comatose, if you want the full effect listen to it while you read, but it isn't necessary.

**Featured characters: **Jyushiro Ukitake, Kenpachi Zaraki, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, Coyote Starrk, Retsu Unohana, Karin Kurosaki, Kisuke Urahara, and Shunsui Kyouraku. These characters will have the most influence on Ichigo as he matures. There are no original characters in this story; I am using canon people for bad guys.

**Rating: Mature! **

**Warnings: **The story will contain canon modification (all of Bleach up to S3 has happened the way it does in canon, but after that some motivations and back stories will be changed), action violence, psychologically disturbing concepts, homosexual sex of both varieties (yaoi and yuri); sex will involve but won't be limited to: S&M, bondage, voyeurism, and Dom/sub. Don't know what one of those is? Please ask before you read something you might not like.

**Spoilers! **This is set after season three, there will be spoilers for non-filler arcs, but I am twisting canon quite a bit. If you haven't watched passed season three you won't know what is my imagination, and what is a spoiler.

**Japanese Terms and Names: **I only use extremely common Bleach terms, and I don't use Honorifics. When I do use a Japanese term, I define it in the context of the story. I have a tendency to switch between English and Japanese to break up passages where I repeat the same term multiple times so I don't feel like a broken record writing. Let me know if I need to clarify my contextual definitions.

For the Romanized names, I use whichever spelling I think looks better, not necessarily the official one. Sticklers to the official spellings will not like this story, but to me it is more comfortable to write the story with a spelling I think looks good.

**A/N: **This story is going to delve deeper into the characters intentions and desires, to me violence and sex are both expressions of the same emotion: passion. In order to learn about one, a healthy fifteen-year-old boy is going to be learning about the other. Each captain is going to have a different lesson, as well as method, to teach Ichigo. There is not going to be a set pairing with Ichigo, he will have encounters with several people, some more intense than others. This is going to be a fairly long story, so despite all my warnings about sex, it won't be wall to wall smut, there is going to be a slow progression over time.

**Prologue**

Ichigo Kurosaki was lying on his back in his bed, staring at the uninteresting ceiling above his head as if it held all the secrets of the universe. This was his first day back from his adventure saving Rukia. The brunette Shinigami had wormed her way into his family, he owed her so much, she had saved his life, now he had returned the favor. He wondered what was going to happen now, Aizen's plot had been foiled, Yoruichi and Soifon destroying the insane Shinigami, Ichimaru and Tousen were apprehended and awaiting trial. Ichigo had received the Substitute Soul Reaper position, officially due to his help in stopping Aizen

The Soul Society was keeping something from him, a secret about his powers that the captains of the 13 squads knew, but hadn't told him. The fifteen-year-old boy was angry that they had kept something from him, when it concerned him so intimately. At least Ichigo had a good idea of who might be willing and able to tell him, he just wasn't sure if he wanted to deal with his mentor so soon after the Hougyoku nonsense. The man had used Rukia to try to eliminate the powerful object, without her knowledge let alone consent, and it had almost cost Rukia her life. If Ichigo hadn't stopped the execution and forced Aizen to reveal himself sooner than he had planned on, Yoruichi and her protégé wouldn't have been able to disable him so easily.

Ichigo was a bit apprehensive about knowing what was going on. He had barely survived the last encounter with the Soul Society, something told him the next meeting wouldn't be any easier. Aizen was powerful and manipulative; there was no way of knowing if he had built in a backup plan, or if he was only the puppet to a larger scheme. Either way more worry was on the horizon.

At least he didn't have a girl living in his closet anymore. Certain impulses were hard to control, such as his dreams, which admittedly weren't always pure. At least before Soul Society got involved Rukia didn't know half the names he may have uttered. He would be mortified if she was around for the dreams he would surely have now that he met all the interesting people in the world after life. He wondered where a living Soul Reaper fit into their plans, because he was not naïve enough to think he was given the badge purely out of gratitude. No Soul Society wasn't done with him yet, and only time would tell what he would be called into duty for.

XXXXXX

Isshin looked down at his research and smiled, finally he was finished, years of patient study, both on his own and with assistance from an old friend, had come together at last. A cure for the gentlest man he had ever met. It would take time, and the help of his son, but it should work. His years in the living world were paying off, it helped ease some of the pain he had been in since Masaki's death.

He did have to face one problem. He couldn't hide his secret any longer, the moment Ichigo had come into his powers, Isshin had been racing time to keep things quiet. He wasn't sure how he was going to break it to his children, but this cure would only work with Ichigo's power, he would have to say something soon. Though in truth, he wouldn't have been able to put it off much longer anyway, the girls were already showing signs of their power. When those two awakened, he would lose any ability to hide himself from his children. Karin was the stronger at the moment, but he knew Yuzu wouldn't be far behind, his youngest child having a different but still potent power.

He knew Ichigo had returned the evening before, Isshin had been expecting the confrontation to happen as soon as his son returned, but no the Gotei 13 had to make it hard on him by forcing him to come clean all by himself. After all Isshin was still in technical exile, after choosing Masaki over his duties, he would need Ichigo to take back the news of his cure. He wanted his old comrades to know he had made his choices, but he hadn't forgotten all the time spent backing each other up on the battlefield.

He wondered when the other shoe was going to drop, a person didn't endure what Ichigo had gone through without changing, Isshin knew these changes weren't simply in the mind. When his son had a chance to settle from the high of his first major victory he would realize that battle was only the first in a string of fights to come, good thing that boy was tough, or Isshin would be even more worried.

XXXXXX

Two people were sitting around the low table sipping tea, each waiting for the other to gather their thoughts. The woman spoke first with her cat like eyes gleaming, "Bet you a bottle of sake he chickens out and we have to tell Ichigo."

The man raised an eyebrow at the bet, a move mostly covered by the green and white stripped hat sitting low on his forehead, "I'll take that bet, he had a reason for keeping Ichigo in the dark. If I know Isshin he's concerned but probably just as relieved that he can finally share such a large part of his life with at least one of his children."

The woman chuckled a bit, "Yeah, I can see that, but even after the Kuchiki girl showed up he said nothing, there was no more golden an opportunity to talk to Ichigo than when he had a Shinigami living in his closet."

"You do have a point, oh well we will just have to wait and see. The medicine should be ready soon, Isshin has a deadline now, so we shouldn't have to wait too much longer." The man explained, having faith in his old friend.

Yoruichi shook her head briskly, "I know how overjoyed Ukitake is going to be, he will finally feel useful again despite all of us trying to tell him he earned the rest. Though I wonder how the two of you will survive Unohana, this is her domain you're stepping on."

Kisuke grinned, "Oh don't you worry about that, Retsu may have a bit of a grudge against me from my experiments giving her the occasional overload of patients, at least I'm not as bad as Mayuri got. Plus, she always had a soft spot for Isshin, he was her Lieutenant before he got promoted."

"I sometimes forget that, I didn't start talking to Isshin much until you two got closer when he became Captain of the 10th squad." Yoruichi admitted.

"Those were the good old days, he was head of the investigation squad, knew how to patch up his soldiers, and I was just starting up the Research and Development unit. Our squads working together made quite a few inventions possible," Kisuke paused for a moment, "You know when I think about it, I'm not surprised we got ourselves into trouble, more I'm shocked it took us so long."

"You should have known better than to experiment on Hollows where the squads could discover it." She admonished.

"I thought we were doing a good thing! It did work, I'm just sorry we weren't able to keep the secret longer. If it hadn't been stolen from us, we wouldn't be in this mess. We were able to save Ichigo because of it, remember?" Kisuke defended himself. As far as he was concerned the experiments the three of them had carried out worked fine. It was when greedy hands got a hold of the research and tried to create super soldiers that things went wrong. They took the knowledge, used it on themselves, and tried to take over. They left him to take the blame for the original research, and he would never forgive the thief for ruining his hard won reputation. At least Isshin's part in the study was kept confidential, allowing the other Captain to remain in Soul Society. He helped round up the idiots who abused the research, herding them out of Soul Society. Though he soon met Masaki and joined them in the living world, he at least left with the Head-Captain's blessing, not without a price though. Everything came with a price when dealing with that man.

"You owe me for saving your original experiments for you, they would have been killed the first chance Old Man Yama had." She reminded him. "Though he did finally allow them to continue surviving, as long as they stay in Heuco Mundo, serve as Hollow population control, and leave the Pluses alone." She paused again, before musing, "I wonder how much trouble Ichigo is going to have with this?"

Kisuke thought about it, "Knowing that boy he already has half the Soul Reapers in the Seireitei wrapped around his finger. The kid has a disturbing tendency to impress his opponents, even as he fights them. I think in his case as long as he can control himself he should be fine. I am curious as to what kind of fireworks show he is going to put on when all this comes together, he can be rather temperamental when people keep secrets from him."

"I'm thinking a lot of his reaction is going to depend on how he learns about it. He functions much better when everything is laid out for him and he knows what is expected from him. If he is spoon fed a little at a time he will probably be ready to explode from impatience before we can tell him the important bits," Yoruichi theorized from her time overseeing his Bankai training. "I still bet that bottle of sake that Isshin will want to coddle Ichigo by saying as little as he could possibly get away with. I have a feeling that would just backfire. Some one has to do it eventually, Ichigo is a powder keg, and he needs to know that quickly"

"You may be right, except I think Isshin will do the right thing by Ichigo and get him ready. He wouldn't want to see Ichigo lose to that any more than we would. He is Isshin's son after all." Kisuke responded.

XXXXXX

A rip opened in the celestial cloth that separated the worlds. Two figures stepped out of the rip, one tall and broad shouldered, his confident bordering on arrogant carriage could almost make you overlook the slight male standing next to him. A fatal mistake commonly made, making these two into the most formidable team that could be unleashed on the living world.

"Wow this kid is spilling his spiritual pressure all over the place. How long do you think it'll take till we find the brat in this swamp?" The bigger one asked.

"Grimmjow, if you can't manage such a simple task as tracking down a single boy, obnoxious amounts of spirit pressure aside, you should turn in your number now." The smaller man was feeling a bit snappish towards his companion, spend day after day of dealing with that overeager Arrancar and you'd be irritable too.

"Oh lighten up Ulquiorra, it's been ages since we could leave Heuco Mundo. Yah I can track the whelp, but I'm in no hurry to finish the job." Grimmjow had no problem admitting that to his stoic partner.

"We are here to do a job then leave that is all that should matter." Just because they were a deadly team didn't mean their personalities went together.

"It's a good thing we are just the opening act, if it was only you and me until the kid learns enough I think I might run myself through with Pantera." Grimmjow gripped, not being able to stop himself from winding up Ulquiorra, for all his standoffishness a good brawl with him always got his blood up.

Ulquiorra couldn't resist the dig the feline Arrancar had opened himself up for, "What makes you think you will survive _me_ long enough to run _yourself _through?"

"Cause you are going to be too busy bashing the lessons into the boy's skull, literally knowing you." Grimmjow replied, used to Ulquiorra's digs from all the time they spent working together.

Ulquiorra shuddered at the thought, but a job was a job and they couldn't disobey a request from the person who saved their hides. "I'm only doing this because I have to, the brat better be worth all this nonsense."

"Well, he is Kurosaki's son, that amounts for something, hopefully he can fight at least half as well as Isshin does." Grimmjow countered, not fully convinced of his own words, but continuing anyway in order to get Ulquiorra worked up.

"Urahara wouldn't ask this of us if he didn't think it was worth the risk, but I have seen him be wrong before." Ulquiorra refused to rise to Grimmjow's bait, it was way too public a place to start one of their grappling matches, no matter how tempting it was.

"I wonder if any one has bothered to tell the boy what exactly was done to him?" Grimmjow mused.

A hint of disgust flickered in Ulquiorra's eyes. "They couldn't possibly expect us to break in a complete greenhorn? I thought the point was to make sure the brat survives the ordeal." If Isshin and Kisuke intended for them to baby sit they may find themselves short one son and protégé, quickly. The thought made him cringe.

"The boy may not be completely clueless about Shinigami, but Kurosaki always did have a soft streak in him. I doubt he would tell the boy the whole truth unless forced to. We are liable to be dealing with a very frustrated, and powerful, Vizard running around on half-truths and not much else." Grimmjow predicted, feeling like he had a good grasp on the situation.

The more Grimmjow spoke the higher the impulse was for Ulquiorra to indulge his urge to fight. Maybe the two of them could cause enough destruction and mayhem to be pulled off this task. Let Starrk and Harribel deal with the dire, but all too likely, prediction of impending doom.

XXXXXX

It was a quiet day in the Seireitei, the sun was out, a few Hell butterflies fluttered aimlessly in the garden, his overeager Third seats had been successfully distracted from their smothering, and Jyushiro Ukitake was savoring the sound of silence; a rare treat for him. His moment of quiet was shattered into a million pieces as his old friend Shunsui Kyouraku came stumbling up the garden path, humming off key, a half-empty bottle of Sake loosely held in one hand. Jyushiro didn't mind his visits, he really didn't, but this was one of those times he hoped the other man was a bit more sober than he appeared.

"Hey Jyu, I heard through the grape vine that you were finally released from the Fourth, how ya feeling?" The fact that Shunsui was capable of stringing so many words together in a logical question made Jyushiro feel he had been right in guessing the pink clad man hadn't had as much as it looked.

"Much better," He answered Shunsui, "It wasn't that bad an attack, if Sentaro and Kiyone hadn't seen I doubt I would have went to the Fourth at all."

"Remind me to thank them later," Shunsui mumbled to himself, before going back to his normal voice, "Now Jyushiro we both know Retsu wanted you to come to her whenever you had any attack, no matter how minor. She can at least help with the pain through it so you can bounce back quicker." The Captain of the 8th division lost a little bit more of his drunk as he spoke, flopping bonelessly on the mat laid out near his friend.

"Besides the pain there really isn't much she can do, and for the mild attacks the pain isn't that bad. I can handle them so no one has to worry about me." Jyushiro protested adamantly, it really was just a light attack.

Shunsui shushed him impatiently, "Oh hush, a little worry never hurt no one, and I would rather you take care of your own pain before you start fussing over us."

"Why does it seem like we have the same argument every time I have an attack?" Jyushiro asked ruefully.

"Because you are stubborn and won't listen to reason," Shunsui teased, making the pal captain get a little red around the ears as the truth of the statement sunk in.

"You are just as stubborn, you don't seem to realize that I can recover just fine here on my own, as I can in the Fourth squad barracks. I get the sniffles and most of Seireitei thinks I am on my death bed, I don't want to cause that kind of panic if I can avoid it." Jyushiro tried to explain for what felt like the millionth time, and saw yet again that his protests had fallen on deaf ears.

"Your health comes first, Hell you taught half the current captains what it means to fight. They worry because they care, you will only worry them more by avoiding treatments that can make it easier for you to get through the day. So next time don't fight us, just take care of yourself." Shunsui also felt this was said for the millionth time, and he idly wondered what it would take for Jyushiro to agree to the treatment.

"They shouldn't have to worry," Jyushiro replied simply.

"All right, okay, I get it you're not going to change, but I have to try. Now off the depressing topics. I've heard they started the nominating process to get all those higher ranks filled. Old Man Yama is supposedly going to start with the Lieutenants first. I would think he would want the Captain positions filled first, but hey what do I know." He figured that was a safe enough topic, allowing himself to relax, he leaned back and took a sip from the bottle still grasped in his hand.

"I have a feeling there is a plan under way that the Head-Captain just may be instigating, the Kurosaki boy, that's not exactly a common name, he didn't look too much like Isshin but there was enough resemblance. In addition, that power he had was enormous. I have little doubt where he descends from. I want to know how much he has been told, when I gave him his badge he looked as shocked as the rest of us, grateful, but surprised none-the-less. If he didn't request it, why did Yamamoto suddenly have so much sympathy for a Ryoka trouble maker? I think there is something deeper happening. I only hope it doesn't blow up in our faces. I felt that young man's power and if that isn't harnessed correctly he will be a danger to himself and everyone around him." Jyushiro knew Shunsui had only brought it up as a distraction, but it was a mystery he had been puzzling over since his last encounter with the serious young Shinigami with bright orange hair.

"We have weathered powerful students like him before, remember Toushiro freezing the entire Academy dorm on accident? It took several squad Four teams to deal with that mess. Oh and the first time Kenpachi fought without that eye patch of his, we lost a good portion of the buildings in Seireitei." Kyouraku agreed the boy was dangerous, but he wasn't the first they had taken under their wings and made excellent officers for the 13 court guard squads.

Jyushiro had to chuckle at the memory of those mishaps, adding one of his own. "And the first time Byakuya released Senbonzakura in public? I think he was playing 'tag' with Yoruichi Shihouin at the time, it took you, Retsu, and me to stop him. I don't disagree that we have made good Soul Reapers out of dangerous people, but this one felt different, there was a point when he was up against Byakuya's Bankai that he claims Ichigo's spiritual pressure changed to be almost Hollow like, and it was as if his body had been possessed by a demon. How do we deal with that?"

"You don't" The words were spoken so calmly it was comical how fast the two Captains turned to greet the new party, the Head-Captain himself Yamamoto Genryuusai. "I have the problem under control, by the time you two see the boy back here he was be under control."

The Head-captain was subject to two penetrating stares. "Just how likely is it that the boy will make it through this plan of yours?" Shunsui broke the silence to ask.

"And who exactly has the duty of teaching him?" Jyushiro added on, usually if someone had a student with that much potential the rest of the officers knew through all the bragging.

The gnarled old man paused, as if deciding whether or not to answer, before responding. "It will be difficult, but he survived everything thrown at him so far, as to who, the boy already had a mentor before he started causing trouble. I am leaving the matter in his hands until the Substitute is more useful for us."

"Why all this fuss over one boy?" Jyushiro asked, remembering a similar conversation when Hitsugaya's name was first put forward for the Captains exam.

Another pause, but if he couldn't tell these two he shouldn't be playing with this kind of danger. "The boy's mentor is Kisuke Urahara, and from that the boy is half-Hollow. When Captain Kuchiki came back from encountering the boy in the living world, he reported he had destroyed the Soul Sleep and Soul chain. The human boy is dead, he just doesn't know it yet, he needs to be in control of the Hollow before his body gives out, or we will have a monster on our hands that cannot be given Konso because he is a part of both the living and dead realms, with equal access to Soul Society and Heuco Mundo. I would rather have him fight with us with his bloodline, than having to execute him before his body passes into the stage where the Soul Burial doesn't work. I gave him the Substitute badge so we can keep better track of him, if the boy fails to subdue his Hollow a team will be sent out and the boy will be sent to his final death.

"Wait, if he is already dead, how do we kill him? Also how can one soul be both alive and dead at the same time?" Shunsui vocalized his issues with the situation, while Jyushiro sat back absorbing it all.

"I said the human boy is dead, but his spirit never passed through the gates of Soul Society until he awakened his power and received his Hollow, and with the two spiritual beings inside of him reinforcing his body he safely passed through our gates without crossing over into death. He is essentially a Plus soul with an organic gigai, but his spiritual sides can only maintain that body for a temporary time before it will fail and his soul will be at the mercy of whichever side of his persona is in charge. We can only hope his Shinigami side emerges victorious. There are two ways to kill him, one is to throw him through the gates of Hell, as they never return a soul, living or not, and the other is Captain Mayuri's discovery after his research into the Quincys. All Konso does is purify the soul and send it to Soul society, it can't kill, but a Quincy kills the spirits they conquer, we are working quickly to replicate the technique." Yamamoto explained.

Both Shunsui and Jyushiro didn't know what to say to that. It sounded so outlandish it couldn't possibly be true could it? Shunsui thought of how well Ichigo had fought in the past, and couldn't help but agree that he hoped the Soul Reaper side of Ichigo won out. Jyushiro thought there were some holes in Yamamoto's logic, like there was a piece of the puzzle missing. It sounded plausible as far as the theory went, but there was something still nagging the white blond captain, if Byakuya really had destroyed the boy's Soul Sleep and Chain, then why hadn't he crossed over immediately? At that point the boy wouldn't have been more than a normal human, he shouldn't have stuck around long enough to unlock his powers. No, he was sure of it the more he thought, Yamamoto was wrong. There was something else about Ichigo that let him conquer death, but what could it be?

"Well I can't say things around here are going to be dull." Shunsui replied dryly, while Jyushiro nodded weakly, shocked at the new information.


	2. Rebirthing

**Comatose**

**Shadow of an Echo**

**A/N **Thank you for reading my story. This is my first Bleach fanfiction, I would appreciate any feedback you could give me on my style, I want to know what the readers in this fandom like. Thank you for your time.

**Chapter One**

**Rebirthing**

Ichigo felt like he was being watched. The hairs on the back of his neck rose, his nerves were on edge, and he kept looking around sharply to the point he appeared to be having some kind of attack. A full school day was spent with those eyes drilling into him, if he could only find the source of it he could beat the irritation away, but none of his classmates seemed to be acting unusually odd. His badge stayed quiet on his hip so he was at a loss for what to do, whoever was watching him would have to make the first move.

His friends should be thankful that whomever it was made themselves known during his walk home, if it had been much longer Ichigo could have went off like a firecracker.

The first warning he had that something was coming was the badge alerting him to the presence of a Hollow. He barely had time to leave his human body behind before there was a sword descending on him. His amazement at a Hollow possessing a Zanpakuto almost ended the game there, he was a hair too slow to block as it was, he felt blood start seeping into his Shinigami uniform even as he jumped back to avoid the swing and get a good look at his opponent.

If he was surprised by the sword he was dumb founded by what he saw now. He wasn't facing any Hollow that he had seen before. The man was built like a human, he was tall and muscular, white clothing with black outlines draped loosely over his fighter's physique, and Ichigo was almost too distracted by the soft blue hair and electric blue eyes to notice the remnants of a Hollow mask running along one jaw. There was more human than Hollow about him.

"What in the world are you?" Ichigo figured that was as intelligent a question as he could manage under the circumstances. All the while he had been looking at the man/Hollow hybrid he had stayed still and let Ichigo ogle him, but as soon as Ichigo broke the silence the man launched forward in his next attack.

"I am an Arrancar," The strange person replied easily even as their swords clashed, "I have conquered my mask and gained power, we are the next step in Hollow evolution."

They continued fighting for a few moments, until a new voice, one all too familiar to Ichigo, cut through their fight. "Grimmjow that's enough!"

Ichigo heard the blue haired Arrancar swear sharply before sheathing his sword and leaping back out of the skirmish. Apparently, he was Grimmjow, and just as obviously, someone had a lot of explaining to do because that was Urahara commanding that thing.

"I told you to find Ichigo, not fight him!" Kisuke chastised, but even Ichigo could hear the rueful humor in the sentence, he had known full well Grimmjow wasn't going to be happy without a brawl.

"Ah come on, I wouldn't have hurt him too much!" Grimmjow protested, not liking the mirth in the former Shinigami's eyes.

"Really, so that isn't blood I see on him?" Urahara pointed out, reminding Ichigo about the wound himself having forgotten in the battle and subsequent shock that his mentor knew this creature.

As Ichigo set about inspecting the wound he didn't quite miss the grumbled, "Well if he had his guard up that wouldn't have happened."

"Okay now that you found me, what do you want?" Ichigo asked crossly, not protesting Grimmjow's grumbling because the Arrancar was right.

"Ichigo meet your new teachers they are here to help you control that little parasite problem of yours." Urahara answered unhelpfully, but he did point out another of those human looking Hollows, this one was smaller and slimmer than Grimmjow, with medium length black hair, and bright green eyes. This one also had a Hollow mask fragment, his looked like a half helmet with a horn sticking up, and he looked like he was crying as there were two streaks of green running down his cheeks one from each eye.

An angry tic appeared above Ichigo's left eye, "That doesn't tell me anything except you passing your position onto them." He protested.

"Look this isn't the place for this discussion, come back to the shop and I will explain. Don't forget your body though, it would be a pain if someone found you in a coma," Kisuke still had the same half-teasing tone he usually used, but Ichigo could tell he was being more serious than he had ever been, the light grey eyes hidden under the hat had darkened with the strain of maintaining his carefree attitude.

Ichigo knew better then to reply verbally, he would just end up saying something that would get him in trouble. Sliding back into his human body he felt vulnerable next to the three armed people next to him. An odd thought popped into his head, and he asked before he could stop himself. "Hey Kisuke, how can you keep Benehime with you at all times, but as soon as I return to my body Zangetsu disappears?"

Kisuke's only response was a mysterious smile, and Ichigo wondered why he'd even bothered asking.

The walk to the shop was tense, but passed without further incident. Once they arrived Ichigo knew something was up, the two children that were usually found doing chores in front of the shop weren't there. Tessai was making tea for them, but his face held a shadow of something dark and painful, a bad memory maybe? Yoruichi was there, sitting calm and relaxed in her human form, but the sheer oddity of her choice of form was enough to persuade Ichigo that there was something wrong. Ichigo also felt a tingle of strange spiritual pressure coming from the back room, but since he was horrible at analyzing that kind of thing he didn't know who or what was back there.

"Sit down, make yourself comfortable, this is going to take awhile," Urahara invited, both in courtesy and so there was a table between them, if Ichigo lost his temper he would have a few moments lead time to get the orange haired teen settled down.

Ichigo sat gingerly, on edge with all the oddities around him, "All right start talking. What is going on?"

"When was the last time he tried to take over?" Kisuke asked oddly.

"What do you mean? What he?" Ichigo was going from uneasy to angry rather quickly.

Kisuke glared at him pointedly, "Every one in this room is aware of your extra spirit, now answer the question, when was the last time your Hollow tried to overtake you?"

Ichigo scowled deeply, not wanting to acknowledge the beast inside him at all, but finally growling out, "When I was fighting Byakuya, he took over for a few moments, I beat him back though."

"What if I told you there was a way to control your Hollow so that he doesn't take over?" Kisuke inquired.

"I would have to ask how you know so much about it," Ichigo pointed out with narrowed eyes, "I know you had a part in my Hollow being inside me, so where did that come from?" Ichigo unconsciously asking the one question Kisuke was not looking forward to answering.

"You know more about me now, I was the founder of the Research and Development department in Soul Society, one of my more consuming obsessions was figuring out how Hollows worked. I found that if the soul has a high enough spiritual pressure, a Hollow can gain the skills of a Shinigami, and a Soul Reaper can gain the skills of a Hollow. Two of my successful projects are sitting in this room." Urahara replied as simply as possible, gesturing towards the Arrancar seated at the table with them when mentioning his projects.

"So I am an Arrancar then?" Ichigo was impulsive, but not stupid, he followed what Kisuke was saying easily. He wanted to know why it was used on him though.

"No, you are not. These two started out as Hollows, you are coming from the other side. You are a Visored, a Shinigami with a Hollow trapped inside." Urahara explained.

Something seemed off with that in Ichigo's mind, "Wait, so I was a Shinigami first? I thought it was at the same time, didn't Byakuya take all the power Rukia had given me?"

"I'm not the one who should answer that," Kisuke replied quietly, before turning his head and yelling to whomever was hiding in the back of the shop, "You can come out now, he is going to want your side of the story."

Ichigo watched in growing rage as Isshin stepped into view, a sheepish look on his face, "Ichigo, you were born a Shinigami, giving you a Hollow was the only way to awaken your own power before it would naturally occur. If we hadn't done it you would have been lost to us, as it was there was still a heavy price." Isshin didn't get to explain any further because Ichigo had risen from his spot at the table, and punched his father squarely in the jaw, sending the older man flying. The tattered white haori tied around his black clad arm flapping in the breeze his movement created.

Ichigo rounded on the other members of the table, luckily for them he was too angry to switch into his Soul Reaper form with access to Zangetsu, instead he settled for yelling, "You knew! All of you knew, why the hell didn't you tell me!"

"Yes we knew," Yoruichi spoke, the most level headed one at the table since Kisuke had gone to see if Isshin was still conscious, "Isshin, Kisuke, and I were all captains at the same time. We didn't tell you before because, when your father came into the living world to be with your mother, Head Captain Yamamoto put a seal on his powers, and he was not allowed to speak of his past to any possible children until they awakened to their own powers. Under normal circumstances that means death."

"How much more is there?" Ichigo demanded, "What else haven't you told me!"

"Plenty, but you weren't ready to handle it." She snapped at him sharply, "Think about it Ichigo, you were saving Rukia, do you really think you could have handled that, and knowing everything about your history at the same time? No one could, no matter how strong they are. So sit down and let us talk to you now, without you throwing temper tantrums."

A deep scowl still on his features, Ichigo slowly lowered himself back down, willing to at least try to keep his temper, only to hear a quiet mumble from the dark haired Arrancar, "Kami help me, there's two of them."

Grimmjow beat Ichigo to the response, "Just what does that mean Ulquiorra?"

"Exactly what it sounded like, I'm going to be stuck with two of you. You two act exactly the same. How am I supposed to deal with that without killing something?" Ulquiorra demanded, not caring if his commander heard him or not, he didn't like this at all.

"Well you will be in Heuco Mundo for most of it, you could kill a few dozen Gillian or something," Yoruichi offered, well acquainted with the Arrancar's violent side.

Ulquiorra looked slowly between Grimmjow and Ichigo, noting identical scowls, "Something tells me that won't be nearly satisfying enough."

"Now, now, Ulquiorra give our young hot-head a chance, he isn't quite as stuck in his ways as the old panther here." Kisuke chastised, arriving back at the table with Isshin. The black haired Kurosaki still looked slightly dazed and had a large bruise on his jaw from his son's punch.

Both Ichigo and Grimmjow growled at Kisuke, before catching the reaction and glaring at each other before looking away darkly. "Scary isn't it?" Kisuke commented.

"Are you sure he should have anything to do with training my son? I don't think Ichigo needs any more bad habits." Isshin protested, only to quiet down as Ichigo brandished his fist readying another punch. "All right, all right, I take it back. Now are you calm enough to continue?"

"I'm fine, get on with it already." Ichigo grumbled, remembering what Yoruichi said.

"Good, now remember what I said you were born a Shinigami. At the end of your natural life span you would have gone to Soul Society and taken your place as one of us, or at least that is what the Head-Captain assumed would happen to my children, because he was under the assumption that Masaki was a normal human." Isshin paused long enough for that to sink in to Ichigo.

"Wait, Mom wasn't human either? What was she, another Soul Reaper?" Ichigo asked, figuring he better get used to shocks, he doubted this would be the last one.

"Well not exactly, she was human as far as species went, but she had spiritual power. One of your friends has the same I believe, your mother was a Quincy." Isshin explained, wondering how much Uryu would have told Ichigo about the Quincys.

Ichigo shook himself quickly out of his shock, that was less of a surprise then he thought, at least he knew what a Quincy was. "Okay, I know what they are. Yes, Ishida is a Quincy, he takes pride in being the last… Wait, if he knows he is the last, they must keep in touch somehow, did he know about Mom?"

Isshin took a deep breath, but he had made a promise to himself to answer all of Ichigo's questions, no matter how painful. "He may not have, but his father did. Masaki was Ryuuken's sister, he hated me to start with because she married me, but his hatred turned even worse when Masaki died, he saw it as my failure to protect her. He may have only told his son enough to hate Soul Reapers, but maybe not enough to make the connection between him and Masaki."

"So if Ryuuken is my uncle, then Uryu is my cousin?" Ichigo grasped onto the easiest to deal with part of the explanation.

"Yes, though that isn't the important part about your mother being a Quincy. The point is she had high spiritual pressure, which added to mine, ended up with all three of you kids showing signs of power long before your deaths. You and Karin inherited most strongly from me, but Yuzu will likely end up a Quincy. Yuzu has enough Soul Reaper in her it's keeping her power suppressed, but it won't be much longer until the Quincy wins out. If you hadn't had that extra boost of spiritual power, your soul would have immediately crossed over, and we wouldn't have had time to awaken your true power rather than what you borrowed. Like I said though, there was a price, but not as bad a one as Yamamoto thinks it was, or not quite anyway," Isshin continued, once again stopping so Ichigo could have a chance to absorb what he was saying.

Bracing himself, knowing this would be the worst shock yet, "You can tell me, what was the price?"

"A soul can only take so much, even one with strong spiritual pressure. The only way to save your soul from crossing over was to give you a Hollow, but in doing that, a piece of your original soul had to be given up. In a Soul Reaper's soul when they gain a Hollow what they give up is their conscience, they cannot tell right from wrong, creating highly destructive monsters with only a slight grasp on sanity. You, teetering on the brink of life and death, had another option. What was taken on your part to make room was the remainder of your mother's Quincy powers, in other words the part of you that was truly human. Yamamoto didn't know about Masaki he thinks you died, but didn't cross over, fortunately that isn't quite true. You are still alive, but you are no longer human. Ichigo you are a new type of spiritual being, neither Shinigami nor Hollow, but at the same time both, and without ever crossing over into death." Isshin tried to break it to him gently, while still telling him what he needed to know.

Ichigo wasn't sure whether he needed to pass out or throw up, the information was just too much. He couldn't move, could barely breathe. His brain locked down, refusing to deal with any more. This couldn't be happening. Soul Reaper he could handle, there was a lot of those. His Hollow terrified him, but it saved his life. To hear the very thing that saved his life, for all intents and purposes, had ended it too. Too much. So much. He couldn't take it. He threw himself at his father, but not to hurt him, he simply lay there sobbing in Isshin's lap, as he hadn't done since his mother's death. He didn't even care about all the other people in the room.

It took him a good hour of sobbing before he started pulling himself back together, there was nothing that could be done except move on and learn what he needed to do. Pulling himself off his father's lap he was surprised that the table was still surrounded by people, he blushed as he realized they had been there for his entire crying jag.

"What does this mean? How much do you really know about what I am, and how much more can you guess?" Ichigo thought that was a pretty coherent question for following up a breakdown with.

"Are you sure you want to keep going? We don't have to finish this all in one night." Isshin offered, still shocked that Ichigo had leaped onto him for comfort, that was more what Yuzu was prone to do.

Ichigo nodded slowly, "I need to do this, I wouldn't be able to relax until I knew everything I could. I would just keep worrying about it. I think it's better we finish this."

"All right, what we know," Kisuke took over now, Isshin's story complete. "We know that your organic body will not hold up under the strain of your new spiritual power, it will begin to deteriorate, so its probably best if you say your goodbyes soon. Once it does deteriorate your soul will emerge intact, hopefully at that point you will have control over your Hollow, if you haven't noticed it is much easier for him to try and take over if you are purely spirit. That is what we know from studying Hollows, and the previous Visoreds, the thieving idiots. There is no way a human body can cope with the pressure of a Visored's power. You have a bit more time to conquer your Hollow, because unlike the others, you are still alive. Now we already know more about your spiritual form because of your rescue mission, you were a Visored then even if you didn't know it. "

"Wait stop for a second," Ichigo interrupted, "If my body is going to deteriorate, isn't that the same as death?"

"No, like Isshin said, you are not human anymore. If you hadn't acquired your Hollow, then yes that would mean death, but now all it means is your true form will be released. You are more like a Hell Butterfly than a Soul Reaper at this point, they are spiritual beings belonging to the plane of death, but haven't actually died to get there." Kisuke answered his questions.

"Will normal humans be able to see me or not?" Ichigo honestly didn't know, he hadn't been back long enough since he awakened his new powers to see.

"Probably not to begin with, but with practice you may be able to condense your spirit pressure down until you are visible, might not be for long periods of time, but long enough to say hello anyway." This was very much theoretical at that point, but it was just as possible as it was not, so he didn't see a problem in giving the kid hope.

"Okay, you can keep going now, what do you know about my Spiritual form?" Ichigo allowed the conversation to continue from where he had interrupted Kisuke.

"Your power level is about twice that of a high class Captain, but don't let that get you cocky, you may have power but you still have to learn to use it. Your soul is exceedingly durable, Yoruichi has told me of the wounds you received, you can die just as Shinigami and Hollows do, but it seems it will take quite a bit to kill you. The only difference is where your soul will go after you die, Shinigami are reincarnated when they die, but Hollows go to Soul Society as a purified plus soul; what this means is we have no idea where you would end up if you die. It is possible your soul would split and your Shinigami side would reincarnate as your Hollow went to Soul Society, but we just don't know. As far as aging goes, we doubt you will age much at all, muscle mass may change, but overall age shouldn't. At the very least you would age as Shinigami do, and since we can live for hundreds of years you still have quite a few ahead of you." Kisuke explained as much as they knew, and a bit about what they guessed.

"How long do I have before my body gives out, and how do I control my Hollow before that happens?" Ichigo was running on autopilot, needing the information, but too emotionally drained to react.

"At most a year, at least a few weeks, it depends on how much time you spend in it, though I recommend staging your death while your body is mostly intact. If there is no body it creates loose ends and doesn't give your remaining friends closure. While I know most of your friends and family are spiritual aware the few that aren't deserve that much," This was surprisingly Yoruichi talking, she was just as involved with this as Isshin and Kisuke.

"As for controlling yourself, that's where these two come in." Kisuke picked up from her, gesturing to the bored looking Arrancars.

"We will be taking you back with us to Heuco Mundo, there we will force your Hollow to come to the surface. From there it will be your job to subdue it. By going to the land of Hollows we reduce the risk of a human getting hurt in the cross fire." Grimmjow spoke with a fire in his eyes, looking forward to seeing what the orange haired male was capable of with the pedigree he had.

"How exactly do you plan to bring him out?" Ichigo asked suspiciously, not trusting the feline Arrancar one bit.

"Why we take turns fighting you until all that's left is pure Hollow instinct." He explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

When Ichigo's head impacted the table with a solid thud, no one was real surprised, "Is there anything else I need to know?" He mumbled against the solid surface.

"Only that once you have successfully conquered your Hollow, the Soul Society wants you training with them to develop your Shinigami side. They might not know the whole story, but they know you have two sides to your soul. To reach your pinnacle of power you need to train both." Yoruichi advised.

"My life is over," He grumbled, in total mental overload.

"I think you're wrong," Kisuke disagreed, "Your true life is just beginning."


	3. Say Goodbye

**Comatose**

**Shadow of an Echo**

**A/N **One clarification you may need for this chapter is Zangetsu, roughly translated, means Slaying Moon.

**Chapter Two**

**Say Goodbye**

Ichigo had a few days to absorb and understand the information given to him. They were all a little worried that if they attempted to take him to Heuco Mundo before he got his mind wrapped around this than there was no chance of him overcoming his Hollow. He had to find the will to fight that had kept him moving forward during his invasion of the Soul Society.

He was worried about what he would be leaving behind, his family and his friends, yes they could still see him, but things would never be the same. To everyone else he would be dead, no matter how many times he visited he would never be acknowledged. However, when he returned to his room, he did remember something. Kon, the mod soul that occasionally took care of his body while Ichigo was off fighting Hollows with Rukia, he wondered if maybe the mod soul couldn't keep his body, after all Ichigo wouldn't be using it, and it would give the soul a chance at a life as more than a stuffed lion.

The friends aware of his change into a Shinigami would know the truth, but to everyone else, Ichigo would still be around. Granted a heck of a lot more perverted, but the mod wasn't too bad of a guy once you got to know him.

Chad, he was going to be the hardest to tell, but would be the least combative about it. They had been watching each others' back for so long, something this big was going to change things, hopefully not for the worse. Maybe with Ichigo out of the way, Chad could grow in his own strength, it might be good for them to spend some time not constantly looking out for someone else.

Tatsuki, he should probably tell her the truth, even if she couldn't see spirits. She would know Kon was an imposter in a heartbeat, he couldn't hide the change from her. In addition, Tatsuki would be needed to calm Orihime, which was a whole other problem. Yes, he figured he owed Tatsuki the truth.

Orihime, that would be difficult. He wasn't blind to her attentions, it was kind of hard to miss, but he just didn't see her like that. His leaving would hurt her in a way it wouldn't hurt others. He was the reason she got dragged into this in the first place, her brother turning up as a Hollow not helping matters, but she fought because of him. He only hoped Tatsuki could be there for her when he couldn't, maybe she could be the rock Orihime needed in this life.

Uryu, the two of them were going to need to talk. The Quincy had disappeared off them map as soon as they returned. He was probably off training somewhere, attempting to regain the powers he had given up fighting Captain Kurotsuchi. Knowing Uryu, he was too stubborn not to find a way to succeed. If his little sister was going to be a Quincy there was no one else that could help her train, but Ichigo needed to make sure Uryu would do right by Yuzu.

He would be switching bodies with Kon before he went with the Arrancar to Heuco Mundo, and if things worked out, he wouldn't be coming back to it. Though he wasn't sure if he wanted to explain things before or after the trip, he supposed it would have to be before if he was including Tatsuki in the explanation.

As he waited for his friends to arrive at his place, Isshin agreeing to leave them alone for this, he thought over what the people from Soul Society were going to say about this. The only one he knew well was Rukia, and he guessed he'd spent some time with Renji during Bankai training, also a bit with Ikkaku at the squad 11 barracks after Aizen's defeat. No one really knew him though, so would they treat him as a friend, or a monster?

Chad was the first one there, his quiet presence a comfort to Ichigo, neither one needed to speak to know there was something big happening. Fighting together so many times had taught them to communicate without words. Chad sat quietly in the chair, while Ichigo was sprawled across the bed, yes there was more room in the living room, but Ichigo wanted the comfort of his own space for this talk. Orihime and Tatsuki showed up together, no one liked the thought of Orihime walking alone, she got lost in thought too easily. They didn't want to see her get hurt. Ichigo sat up in the bed, giving Orihime room to sit at the foot, with Tatsuki on the floor leaning against the bed. He hadn't gotten a hold of Uryu so he was ready to begin when he heard the next knock on his door. Knowing what he would find, he called out and his sisters peeked inside, Karin in the lead.

"All right Ichi, you gonna tell us the truth now or what? We know there is something going on." The older, more demanding twin asked, while Yuzu nodded in agreement with her sister.

Ichigo figured they deserved the truth too, so he allowed them to come inside. Yuzu curled up next to him on the bed, while Karin sat on the floor across from Tatsuki. "This is going to take awhile, Chad, Orihime, you already know some of this, these three don't, help me if I forget something." He started out, launching into the story of Rukia transferring her power to him, and all that happened after that. He spoke as quickly as he dared, not wanting to stop incase he couldn't find the nerve to start up again.

"So now I have to go to Heuco Mundo with Ulquiorra and Grimmjow, once I leave for there I won't be back for longer than a visit here and there, most people won't even be able to see me when I do." He said finishing his explanation, both his sisters now burrowed into his side Yuzu crying quietly, Karin teetering on the edge of tears herself. Looking around, Chad looked grave, but nodded softly in his direction, he understood, that was good. Tatsuki had the same shell-shocked look on her face he had worn for the first day or two after learning his heritage; he wondered how long it would take her to snap out of it. Orihime, well, she wasn't fairing any better than Yuzu.

"This is something you need to do, isn't it Ichigo?" Orihime asked quietly, her voice softened with emotion.

"Yes, if I don't so this I will be a danger, and if I tried to stay here once I regained control it would be a waste. I am needed in the Soul Society, it is the only reason I wasn't locked up or executed right away. The head-Captain is giving me a chance at control, if I manage it, he will keep me around. I can help a lot more people that way, than if I stayed the way I am now." He responded softly, but firmly, he had made his choice to do what was asked of him. She needed to know he was going because it was the best choice for him, not because he was forced to.

"You really are something special Momma's Boy," Tatsuki teased, the pet name losing some of its impact with the echoes of her shock. "Will I be able to see you when you visit?"

Ichigo's eyes narrowed, think on it, "I don't know. There is one way to check, but if that doesn't work Urahara did suggest a possible way for me to let people see me who normally wouldn't. It would take awhile to learn that though." He explained, nudging his sisters away for a second.

The twins clung to each other without him to support them as he drew out the soul candy in his pocket, Kon could hear them, but he hadn't wanted the Mod to interrupt him in his enthusiasm causing Ichigo to stall in telling the story. Swallowing the candy, he was soon a separate entity from his body, Kon looking on with unabashed glee at the chance at having a life free from stuffing and frilly dresses courtesy of Yuzu.

"Tatsuki can you see or hear me?" The real Ichigo asked.

"I can hear you," Tatsuki answered, looking hard at where he stood, "You're not very clear but I can tell something is there."

"It's the same for me," Yuzu told Tatsuki, still clinging to her sister.

"Hmmm, maybe I will get clearer as time passes, or learn that technique Kisuke was talking about. At least I will be able to talk to you." Ichigo mused, "Kon, can I have my body back for a little bit longer? I want to finish up with my friends before you take over for good. Hopefully it works out for you, as I honestly have no idea whether a mod soul can maintain a real body for so long. You have a better chance at lasting longer than I do anyway from the way the others were talking." Ichigo eventually persuaded the mod to return to his lion plushy, causing Yuzu to giggle lightly as she realized the toy she had been dressing up was conscious about it.

Ichigo was happy to hear Yuzu giggle, it meant she would come around soon, though Karin had yet to weigh in. That was quick to change though, because as he returned to his body Karin wacked him upside the head. "You could have told us sooner! You didn't have to wait so long. As long as you come back to see us, we get it, you're strong, they need you. We will be back together eventually."

Ichigo could tell it was all she could do to act so tough, so he cuddled her gently despite her violent outburst. "That's my sister, you have to keep old Goat Face in line for me. Who knows what he will do if I'm not here for him to use up some of his energy on."

"Chad, Orihime," Ichigo said, looking up from his black haired sister, "You two are both very strong, keep training. Karakura still needs protecting, and I won't be here to do it. You have already helped so much, but you will still be needed with all this happening. Also, keep trying to contact Uryu, once he regains his powers he will be the strongest one left willing and able to fight, call on him when you get up against a tough one. Yuzu, Karin, you should talk to him, he may not even know he still has family around. Don't push too hard, but he may like to meet his cousins. Tatsuki, look after these guys for me, make sure they come through in one piece." Ichigo hated saying goodbye; it only made him remember that he never got the chance to say it to his mother.

"Ichigo, quit worrying about us, you are the one in the most danger." Chad put a stop to Ichigo's orders. His simple confidence in his words enough to make people listen without much effort, "Go, take care of yourself, get stronger, and protect those you were meant to protect. This is what you were meant for, not the life you had before, but the one you will have now."

Ichigo listened to his deep voice, never forgetting this was the person who saved his life a number of times, "I will get stronger, and I will protect those who need protecting. I'm still not sure about a lot of things, but those two facts will never change."

"Good," Chad replied as he nodded in agreement.

"When do you leave?" Orihime asked quietly, resigned to a reality she couldn't reject.

Ichigo looked over his friends, and sisters, before replying, "Grimmjow and Ulquiorra will be here tonight to collect me."

"Well we are going to make sure to take tonight to make sure you never forget us!" Tatsuki told him, stubbornly forcing the atmosphere in the room to lighten. With that, they all started telling stories from their childhoods growing up together. Laughing as much as they were crying in some cases, even Chad's eyes grew misty by the end. They had been through a lot in fifteen years, what would happen now?

Grimmjow was the one to collect him, "Ready to go whelp?" He asked briskly, looking over the room full of humans like a delicious treat sitting on the counter.

"Yeah," Ichigo nodded, much more relaxed thanks to the story session, "Guys this is Grimmjow, I guess I need to go now." He informed them unnecessarily, hugging each sister before letting them go and rising off the bed. He gave a hug each to Tatsuki and Orihime, threw an arm around Chad, switched his body with Kon, and finally turned to trail behind Grimmjow. The blue haired Arrancar didn't know he was witness to an unusual event. Ichigo cared deeply about his friends, but was rarely physical in his affections, it was the first time he had given Tatsuki a hug since they were in middle school.

"Urahara wanted us to meet at the shop, your father is there too," Grimmjow ground out, disliking being an errand boy, but he hated being cooped up even more.

"Fine," Ichigo responded shortly, not caring to talk right now. This really was the beginning of a new life, he didn't want to fake small talk when something this big was happening.

The familiar path to the shop didn't take long at all. No sight or sound of a Hollow bothered them along the route, not even a Plus soul wandered by. From all accounts this was just another sleepy town with nothing spiritual about it, boy was that wrong.

Once they got to the shop he noticed all the adults that had been present for the talk a few days prior were there with the exception of Ulquiorra, they had probably decided picking up Ichigo was a simple enough task for a single Arrancar.

Yoruichi approached him first, "Remember how far you have come Ichigo, anyone who can achieve Bankai in two days can succeed at this. Remember your will to protect, let it bring you through. Show these Arrancar a thing or two about power." She told him with a teasing smile despite the care hidden behind her words.

"Oh I will," Ichigo looked challengingly at Grimmjow, "I made my choice to follow through with this, so that is what I will do. I won't have everyone's hard work go to waste." He finished off speaking to his second teacher, without her he would have never succeeded in his rescue mission.

"Don't let your ego get in the way," She chastised with the same teasing grin, "You will end up bleeding in the sand before it's all over, but you will come out stronger for it. Welcome the pain, open yourself to it, and let it push you to higher limits of endurance." Yoruichi lost the grin for that part, even she couldn't make that sound any less harsh than it was so she didn't ruin it by trying.

Ichigo nodded seriously, not doubting her in the slightest, "I won't back down, no matter how many times I land in the dust I will always stand back up and fight." He promised.

"That's the Ichigo I know." Yoruichi's feline grin returned she was never one to stay serious for too long.

Ichigo turned to the next person, Tessai, who could be as quiet as Chad, or as energetic as Orihime, he never knew what it was going to be. "Thank you for patching me up so many times, I appreciate it." He offered sincerely. Tessai nodded shortly, apparently in one of his quiet moods, the look of old pain still visible in his eyes.

Next was Kisuke, his first teacher, and the one that saved his life by giving him a new one. "I'm not sure if I should praise you or hit you. I'm not even sure I can forgive you, as you definitely have a problem with respecting people right to a choice. Granted I would have made this choice had I been in a condition to say it, but I haven't forgotten Rukia. It was you who put her in danger." Ichigo spoke slowly, without anger, he was stating facts, not yelling.

On his part Kisuke withstood the relentless speech. "You have every right to be mad at me, but I don't regret what I did. The choices I made were the right ones, even if they caused strife in the end. I wouldn't make a different choice knowing what I do now. Think if I hadn't done it, Aizen wouldn't have been exposed as the traitor he was, and you Rukia survived the ordeal. Does hearing that help you make up your mind?" Kisuke spoke with a blunt edge to his voice, a serious tone Ichigo had only heard a few times, the most memorable one being when he told Ichigo he would kill him before attacking with Benehime.

Everyone was expecting Ichigo to bristle with rage, or take a swing at Urahara, what they got was an indulgent look and a hint of a smile. "I expected nothing different. You would never admit to making a bad choice, and I will concede that Rukia did survive. So I will settle for thanking you for saving my life, but next time ask me, I might just surprise you and go along with it." Ichigo told him, the smile leaving as quick as it came, he smiled even less than he hugged after his mother passed away.

Kisuke tilted his head back, uncovering a bit of his eyes, "Come back with your Hollow under control and we will see how strong you have gotten. Benehime gets lonely without someone to hunt." The joke covered his seriousness, much like Yoruichi.

"Sure, Zangetsu might want a fight by then," Ichigo conceded, knowing Heuco Mundo was about his Hollow side not Shinigami, he didn't know how much fighting he would be doing with his Zanpakuto.

"Hold it, you have a moon based Zanpakuto?" Grimmjow broke in, not bothering to cover up his eavesdropping this had just gotten interesting.

"Yeah," Ichigo replied warily, "Why does it matter?"

Grimmjow laughed, not a comforting sound at all, "You don't know anything about Heuco Mundo do you?" At Ichigo's reluctant shake of his head, Grimmjow continued, "Its endless night there. A moon based Zanpakuto could make things very interesting for us."

"It hasn't made a difference before," Ichigo protested.

Grimmjow lifted an eyebrow, "Oh, and exactly how much fighting have you done at night since you started using your own power?"

He caught Ichigo with that one, "Well, not much, but does it really give that big of a boost?"

"Sometimes yes, and sometimes no, we won't know until we get out there and fight." Grimmjow looked like the cat that caught the canary, and with him that wasn't far from the truth.

Shaking his head slightly in exasperation at Grimmjow's excitement at the thought of fighting, Ichigo turned to the last person in the room, his father.

"Son, I don't care what happens, you just come back safe you hear," Isshin warned, pulling Ichigo into a hug, the teen allowing it for a few moments. "Come back here before going to Soul Society, there is something I would like you to do." Isshin requested.

Ichigo pulled out of the hold, looking at his father with distrust, "I thought we were done with secrets, and I asked if there was anything more I needed to know. What is it and why didn't you tell me then?"

"This isn't a bad thing," Isshin spoke quickly, knowing he would have to work hard to earn Ichigo's trust back. "This is a very good thing, that if you succeed, you can rightfully be proud of. It doesn't involve violence, and for once it's about stalling death, not causing it."

Ichigo was curious now, "Okay, so you want me to help heal someone, who, and why me?"

"You met Captain Ukitake right?" Ichigo nodded, catching on quickly, "He has a particularly nasty strain of Tuberculosis. I have been working ever since I learned of it at finding a way that might cure him. You wouldn't know this yet, but before I was made a Captain, I was the Lieutenant of the 4th division. I was a healer long before I joined Masaki here in the living world. I found a way to isolate the infection in his lungs, and if I charge the isolated particles correctly the person with the matching spiritual pressure could scoop, for lack of a better word, the infection out a little over time. Have you followed so far?"

"Yes, but I am still wondering why you need me, wouldn't the Fourth squad be able to handle it?" Ichigo wouldn't mind helping the kind man, but didn't know why his father picked him.

"Well, there is a problem with this cure, I came up with the theory awhile ago, but until you came along there was no way to make it work. You see to scoop out the infection the person would have to get their spiritual pressure to push passed Ukitake's, meaning the person doing it would have to have greater Spiritual Pressure than he does. Captain Unohana matches him, but doesn't surpass him, same with Kyouraku. Yamamoto is strong enough, but he is fire based, his Spiritual Pressure is chaotic and unruly, plus Ukitake is storm based, fire and water don't mix. Your Spiritual Pressure, despite its strength and if you keep that temper of yours, is calm and flows smoothly like the tides, you could do this without causing as much interruption as Yamamoto." Isshin explained, proud both that he came up with the cure, and that his son was the solution. Ichigo didn't know yet what it meant to be stronger than Jyushiro, but he would soon. It was one hell of a compliment.

"Are you sure I'm strong enough to do this? Will it hurt him?" He didn't want to put an ill man in pain only for the cure to fail.

Isshin liked his son's caring side, it would keep him human in the coming struggle, "You have the relatively easy part. Isolating the infection will be the tricky part, especially getting it attuned to you, that's why I need you here after your battle. I don't want to set up this part without knowing if your power might change with the outcome. If I do it right though it will probably tire him out since his power will be subconsciously fighting yours the whole time, but no, it shouldn't hurt him. Yes you are strong enough, even with how raw your power is, you have enough to do this already."

Ichigo listened happily at being told it shouldn't hurt Ukitake, coughing up blood had to be painful enough without this adding to it. "All right, when I get back we will work on getting it right. I didn't speak with him much, but I did like him."

"Keep safe, but you need to go now, Grimmjow looks bored and that's never a good thing," Isshin finished off, whispering the last part just loud enough Grimmjow heard him and bristled, he loved teasing the hot-headed Arrancar, he was an awful lot like Ichigo.

"Come on Whelp, that's enough mushy stuff for one day. One of us will bring him back when he is ready." Grimmjow growled, pulling Ichigo with him, preparing to open a Garganta.

"How long will it take?" Ichigo asked, covering his unease at a hole appearing in thin air.

"Depends on how long it takes us to beat your Hollow out of you and train you up. You didn't think it was gonna be an easy one time battle did you? Once you conquer him, and you better, you have to learn how to fight with him." Grimmjow lazily explained, walking through the opening in space without a care.

Ichigo took a deep breath and stepped onto the new path his life was taking.


	4. Yours To Hold

**Comatose**

**Shadow of an Echo**

**A/N** This chapter took a long time to write, I have been working on it for two weeks. It is still a tad shorter than previous chapters, but it has a bit of smut in it to make up for the length. It isn't very heavy yet, but the scenes will get more detailed as Ichigo gets less innocent, you will understand what I mean as you read. I hope you enjoy it, this took a lot of effort to get out, and I am sorry about the wait.

**Chapter Three**

**Yours To Hold  
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Heuco Mundo was a moonlit desert. Everything was a shade of black, grey, or silver, the rays of the moon bleaching all color from even his silent escort. The Garganta they stepped through had brought them to an open plain, sandy dunes surged and dipped as far as Ichigo could see.

"We will be starting your training out in the open," Grimmjow informed him, "We have a fortress called Las Noches, but it would be a pain in the ass to replace all the broken down walls we would likely end up with. We will only head there if you manage to control yourself." He spoke gruffly, his eyes scanning the desert as they walked, searching for enemies as much as allies.

Ichigo scowled at the if, he was tired of those damn ifs, he needed to control his Hollow, so he would do it; there was no if.

Grimmjow saw the irritated expression, "Listen up Whelp, until you prove yourself to us, all you are is a task set by the man who created us. If you are so irritated by my attitude, than prove to me you deserve more."

"Well quit all the damn lead up and just get to it already! I hate this part. I know what needs to be done, and I have a vague idea how you are going to do it, so quit lecturing already, and start fighting!" Ichigo shouted as he lost his cool. He hated being talked down to, even more so coming from this arrogant ass.

"You are going to regret that," Grimmjow warned calmly, before landing a solid punch to Ichigo's gut, moving so fast Ichigo couldn't follow, let alone block.

Gasping for breath Ichigo kicked out at Grimmjow's bigger body, missing by a hair, turning back to charge head on, hand balled into a fist. Grimmjow evaded punch after punch, dodging kick after kick, landing as many hits as he avoided. In a brawl against humans Ichigo was a tough opponent, against Grimmjow he might as well have been punching a brick wall for all the damage he managed to inflict.

Ichigo was battered and bleeding by the time their fight was interrupted, "Grimmjow you weren't supposed to take him on yourself." The chastising voice was familiar, Ulquiorra, but once again Ichigo got the distinct impression the chiding was given out of habit, rather than any real belief that Grimmjow might change.

"The Whelp needed his first lesson," Grimmjow grumbled, walking away from the battered teen, shaking droplets of blood off his knuckles.

Ulquiorra looked down at the only vaguely conscious Visored, "We are supposed to teach him, not kill him."

Grimmjow shrugged, "Whether it's us or his Hollow, he never had any guarantee of survival. He asked me to quit the lectures and fight, so I did. Seems pretty straight forward to me."

Ulquiorra hauled the crumpled body over his shoulder like a lanky ragdoll, his small stature hiding his true strength from prying eyes, "We'd better get him patched up, he didn't know what he was asking for, and I doubt you attempted to correct his thinking. We have to deal with him carefully or we really will kill him before he can fight his Hollow." With that said, Ulquiorra began walking to their makeshift campsite.

"So this is the kid, looks like Grimmjow couldn't hold his temper again," Tia Harribel observed once the trio arrived. She was a female Arrancar, curvy, with spiky blonde hair and green eyes. Ichigo found it odd the woman had her jacket zipped up so high it completely covered the bottom half of her face.

"He asked for it," Grimmjow repeated, an edge of irritation to his voice.

She shook her head in annoyance, "And you just had to go along with it? No, don't answer that, I don't think I will like the answer. Look, none of us are exactly happy about this either, but going about it this way is not going to help."

"Stop it, he was just doing what I asked him," Ichigo's voice was a shocking interruption, despite the strained tone to it caused by his injuries, "I can take the pain, it was all the stupid talking I hated."

"See he even agrees with me!" Grimmjow was quick to point out, crossing his arms in front of him defensively.

"Look Boy, you may not like it, but if you don't know the basics of what we are doing, then there is no way you will make it. You can't just charge into any fight and expect to engage your Hollow. You have to draw him out, sink into yourself so deeply you are fighting him and us at the same time. Without that concentration all you will have is a pointless brawl." Tia pointedly ignored Grimmjow as she spoke sternly to Ichigo, at least her nick name was slightly less demeaning than Grimmjow's Whelp.

"Fine, I get it, can we just get on with it?" Ichigo grumbled pulling himself upright and shrugging off the slender hands trying to bandage the gashes left behind from Grimmjow's fists.

Ichigo got quite the shock when the response wasn't verbal, but a slap to the back of his head, only hard enough to injure his pride, turning swiftly he caught sight of shoulder length brunette hair, and stormy blue grey eyes, "Pipe down, heal, then fight," The newcomer's voice was deep, but had an almost sleepy quality to it.

"I see we managed to wake Sleeping Beauty over there," Grimmjow grumbled.

"How could anyone sleep with all this noise," Starrk mumbled, already settling back down in the spot he had been dozing in until he felt the need to intervene with the kid.

"Why did we bring him again?" Grimmjow asked rhetorically.

Ulquiorra answered him anyway, "Cause he is the Primera, and Urahara asked him to."

"Wait, Primera, what does that mean?" Ichigo butted into the exchange, that hadn't sounded like a name, more like a rank.

"Primera, the first, he is the highest ranked Espada," Tia filled him in.

"I thought you were Arrancar, what's an Espada?" Ichigo didn't like being confused, he may not be as big a bookworm as Ishida, but he usually knew what was going on. He was now completely lost.

Harribel resisted the urge to rub her temples, of course the boy would have questions, "We are Arrancar, but we are also Espada. The Espada are the top 10 strongest Arrancar, the most successful of Urahara's experiments. Well with one exception, Starrk over there was an Arrancar before Urahara found him, he was how Urahara found out it was possible for a Hollow to remove their mask and gain a Shinigami half."

Ichigo turned to the dozing brunette, no one could fall asleep that quickly, "Why did you help him, he catch you or something."

One eye peeked open, "I was bored, and lonely, he wanted to talk. I let him." A shrug of his shoulders and his eye closed again, fading back into his doze.

Ichigo blinked slowly a few times absorbing the information, "Okay so if he is the first, what are the rest of you?"

Harribel raised an eyebrow, "How about a little test, looks us over and try to tell which order we go in, you don't have to guess exact number but simply who is stronger than whom."

Ichigo gave himself a few minutes to think, what little he knew of them, and it wasn't much. He knew better than to underestimate her because of her gender, or Ulquiorra from his slender build. Grimmjow had a lot of bravado, but he had just beaten Ichigo into a pulp without a whole lot of effort. Ichigo was kind of hoping Grimmjow was high in the rankings just for that fact alone. "Alright, I am going to guess it is Grimmjow, you, than Ulquiorra."

He did not miss the disgusted look that flashed briefly over Ulquiorra's usually expressionless face, or the mocking laughter from Grimmjow, but he was most terrified over the woman's now predatory gaze. "Wrong. Very wrong. Shall we show him?"

Grimmjow was already turning around, raising up the edge of his jacket a few inches to show the gothic number six tattoo he bore, and Ichigo was kicking himself for not remembering it was there. Ulquiorra looked put out, but dutifully unzipped his jacket, only enough to show the small number 4 inscribed in the same gothic font on his chest. Ichigo's eyes bulged as Harribel reached for her zipper, that unzipped upwards, revealing the gothic three on the underside of her breast. "Grimmjow is the lowest rank here, yet you placed him at the highest next to Starrk, why?" She asked while closing up her jacket.

Grimmjow grinned and answered for him, "I can tell you why, he knew the truth, he just didn't want to admit he got his ass handed to him by someone not at the top of the pack."

They took Ichigo's scowl as confirmation that what Grimmjow said was right. "Ahh, don't get all sore, you'll get another shot," That was not the comforting reassurance it may have sounded like if it had come from anyone other than Grimmjow.

"Lesson One, when on the battlefield assume every single one of your opponents is stronger than you, saves you from surprises." Tia finished the lesson Grimmjow had started.

"How in the Hell am I supposed to fight if I go into every fight thinking I will lose?" Ichigo huffed.

"You are not listening at all," Ulquiorra took over before Harribel could get herself worked up enough to kill the brat, they needed to at least try to keep him alive. "She said assume they are stronger, not that you will lose. You can win against someone stronger, as long as you keep your head and don't underestimate them. More battles are won over skill, or sheer dumb luck, than by actual strength."

Ichigo stared, "I'm not sure which is worse, that you made sense, or that you just spoke the phrase sheer dumb luck."

Ulquiorra resisted the urge to growl at him, that was Grimmjow's gig, "Who did I piss off in a past life?" He muttered to himself, Starrk the closest one to him ended up with a slight up turn of his lips at that. "Yes both of those just happened. It made sense because I was right, and you don't know me yet, don't go thinking you know everything about what I will do or say." He was still a little irritated that Grimmjow was placed above him on Ichigo's list, well not really a little, more like a lot.

"Whelp, I would stop that if you don't want pummeled into the ground for a second time today," Grimmjow warned. "For once Starrk has the right idea, grab a few hours sleep, we will start fresh after that. Getting your inner clock synced with endless night can be a bitch."

Ichigo huffed, they were putting him off again, but he did have to admit the effect of darkness and his healing wounds did have him feeling a bit tired. Curling up into a ball on the sand, Ichigo allowed himself to fall into a light doze, nothing deeper, he knew better than to let his guard completely down while around potential enemies.

Thus when the far away sounds of fighting reached his ears he was up and looking around quickly. Rising up slightly he looked out across the black sand dunes, and on the plain further down a sight met his eyes that had his eyes widening and his pants grew tight.

That was definitely Grimmjow and Ulquiorra.

They weren't fighting.

Well not exactly.

They had been sparring with heavy punches and kicks, Grimmjow looked stronger, but Ulquiorra was faster, they were dealing equal damage. That was until Ulquiorra grabbed Grimmjow around his waist and threw him to the ground, pinning him down. That was surprising enough, though it really shouldn't have been since Ulquiorra was two steps above Grimmjow.

It's what happened next that caught Ichigo by surprise. Ulquiorra had crashed their lips together, so hard that had to have hurt. Grimmjow didn't seem to complain, if the feral grow was anything to go by. Clothes were shed quickly, Ichigo getting more turned on by the second. They rolled around in the sand, never breaking their kiss, but fighting for dominance. Grimmjow once again ended up on his back, with Ulquiorra straddling his hips. Their kiss finally did break, as Ulquiorra pushed himself down, and Grimmjow thrust upwards, Ulquiorra flung his head back with a loud cry. They started up a punishing pace that Ichigo couldn't take his eyes away from, the sounds filtering up to him turning him on as much as the sight.

"You'd think after so many years they would learn to be quieter," A grumpy voice cut through Ichigo's staring, turning towards Starrk with his face burning and a painfully hard problem he was momentarily startled to see both eyes open, unclouded by sleep. Eyes that were drilling into him, and not the two rutting out on the sand dunes, "Though it doesn't look like you mind," Starrk's simple observation made Ichigo flush even hotter, and he hadn't thought that was possible.

"I…Well… I, um… Well I don't know what to say," Ichigo gave up trying to search for a response.

Starrk's rumbling chuckle was only making Ichigo's problem worse, "A little shocked are we?"

Ichigo nodded not trusting his voice at the moment.

"Which part? That it's two males, or that it's those two specific males?" Starrk was a bit curious about the newcomer, he had a quick temper, was stubborn, but he would probably prove to be intelligent given time to absorb the shock of the situation.

Ichigo tilted his head, made the mistake of looking back to the couple on the sand, lost his train of thought at the biting and sucking Grimmjow was doing to Ulquiorra's pale skin, before finally tearing his eyes away to answer Starrk a few minutes later. "Those two specifically, and well, I'm a little confused on well, um," Ichigo couldn't force himself to finish, his blush was not going away any time soon.

"Position?" Starrk filled in helpfully, keeping his voice neutral, hoping the kid wouldn't spot the amused glint in his eyes.

Ichigo nodded again, "Yeah, I thought Ulquiorra was stronger than Grimmjow." He managed to finish a sentence, somehow that little victory made him feel a little less dense.

"He is," Starrk agreed, "But why does that matter? Right now he is in control, and Grimmjow knows it."

"I think I'm missing something," Ichigo admitted, risking another glance, regretting it soon after, when Starrk threw a rock at his head to get his attention again.

The Primera Espada had excellent aim, "I wouldn't have needed to do that if you'd been paying attention." Ichigo was rubbing his head where the small projectile had hit, "Now, what is it you are missing? Do you not understand how the one receiving pleasure is the one in control? You must be a virgin then."

Ichigo was pretty damn sure his whole body was burning up, a single beet red blush, that's all he was. "So what if I am?"

"Since you are so intent on them, look at them again, they don't care if someone sees. It's a power trip for Ulquiorra, because they both know he _chose_ to receive. Grimmjow is only the giver because Ulquiorra lets him." Starrk wanted to see what Ichigo would do with the information.

The two were staring intensely at each other, eyes never blinking, in a contest of wills even as they thrust together. Ulquiorra's hands were clamped onto Grimmjow's shoulders, Ichigo wouldn't be surprised if the Sexta was bleeding from the grip. Grimmjow didn't break the staring contest, until he rose up and pressed another bruising kiss to those darkly shaded lips, fisting his hands in Ulquiorra's silky black hair. One hand released the hold on black locks, sliding between them to grip Ulquiorra's straining need. Ichigo watched a trickle of dark liquid stream down Grimmjow's chin, did Ulquiorra just bite his lip? Yes, he did.

Ichigo bit down on his own lip, a low moan escaping him at the sight, eyes riveted on the coupling, totally forgetting he was being watched too. Of course, no one bothered to warn him the Primera's strongest asset was his speed. One second Starrk was lounging across the campsite, less than a heartbeat later, warm breath ghosted across Ichigo's neck, and teeth nibbled at the juncture of his neck and shoulder.

A shocked gasp escaped him, even as every nerve in his body set itself on fire simultaneously. "What are you doing?" He asked shakily.

"Lesson two, there is power in submission," The words were whispered into the shell of his ear, those teeth attacking the skin there, "In taking control by allowing yourself to be taken." Slender fingers trailed down Ichigo's chest, burning even through the black cloth.

Ichigo felt himself arching into the touch, unable to deny himself the pleasure, feeling a bit ashamed such simple touches were affecting him so much, especially coming from a person he had met not three hours before. "I barely know you," He protested weakly, not pulling away from the blazing hand or the nibbles returned to his sensitive neck.

"So? When it comes to intimacy, the only one you have to answer to is yourself. You would be lying to yourself if you said you weren't enjoying my touch." His hand trailed a little lower, but not edging past the younger male's navel, he wasn't ready for that.

"I shouldn't" Ichigo mumbled, turning his head away, but still pressing himself against those questing fingertips. It was embarrassing, but damn, did it feel good.

Starrk's lips grazed his ear, warm breath tickling him, "You can touch me."

Ichigo turned his head back to Starrk, finding their faces mere inches apart. He raised a hesitant hand, Starrk holding still, letting Ichigo do what he wanted. The hand crept towards his face, but seemed to lose courage and instead traced along the mask fragment circling his neck like a thick choker.

It felt cool and smooth, like old bleached bone, and Ichigo wondered what his own mask would feel like once he got it under control. From the mask, he moved up to run a hand down Starrk's strong jaw and lightly haired chin, seeing those piercing blue eyes close at the contact made Ichigo get a little bolder, now running a finger along his lips.

Starrk was enjoying his innocence. He knew from observing this boy was powerful, and from Kisuke's stories he hadn't even grazed his true potential yet, even with earning Bankai in an astonishing two days. Urahara himself took three, and he invented the technique. It was good to know the young man wasn't jaded into asexuality, or driven to sexual accesses. He enjoyed touch, but thought about the consequences. Altogether, Starrk was glad he had put aside his usual standoffishness when Grimmjow and Ulquiorra's loud coupling had created the opportunity. He had to thank them later.

Especially when Ichigo's searching fingertips were replaced by lips. Soft and a bit unsure, but a bolder move than the solitary Espada had been expecting. Starrk put his arm around Ichigo, pulling him closer, keeping the kiss light, but showing he was enjoying it.

"Humph, Starrk, always knew you were fast, didn't know that went for fucking as much as fighting." Grimmjow's voice had the effect of a bucket of ice water dropping over Ichigo, and he scrambled backwards a few feet.

Starrk turned a dark glower to the half-dressed Sexta, "Grimmjow, next spar, you die." Was all he said as he returned to the spot he had been napping in earlier, knowing the moment was over with Ichigo. For now anyway.

Ichigo for his part was looking anywhere but at Starrk, so his gaze landed on the smooth flesh of Grimmjow's muscled torso now streaked with blood from Ulquiorra's nails, and a trickle of the same substance still stained his chin from his bitten lips. Ulquiorra was a few steps behind him, his jacket on, zipping it up as he walked, but Ichigo didn't miss the markings on the brunette being hastily hidden under white cloth.

"Oh for the love of, even Starrk's awake, do _any_ of you know what the word sleep means?" Harribel demanded, the voices had kept pulling her out of sleep, she had been fighting it, but they would just not be quiet.

"They started it," Ichigo grumbled, embarrassed for more than one reason now.

"You watched?" Grimmjow asked cockily, an arrogant grin plastered on his face. Ulquiorra didn't react much, just a slight tensing, and an irritated glint in his eyes.

Ichigo glared at the attitude, "Not like I had much choice, you two were loud, I thought someone was getting attacked."

The grin widened, "They were, but some people enjoy attacking, or being attacked."

"I could tell," Ichigo was trying to hide his embarrassment, and arousal, by maintaining a cool don't really care kind of attitude, but didn't think he was very successful. This was one area he didn't have much experience controlling himself in.

Grimmjow raised an eyebrow, "Looked like someone else was enjoying the chase."

Ichigo couldn't force back the damn blush, he really needed to learn to control that. He once again tried to play it off, "I don't know what you're talking about," Which wasn't really a denial, more of a side-step.

Both eyebrows rose at that, "Whelp, Starrk is too lazy to spar normally. If he is issuing death threats, you know damn well what I'm talking about," Maybe that would appease the Primera. Grimmjow enjoyed a good fight, he didn't really like being massacred, and Starrk could do it if he wanted to. If Starrk had chosen the Whelp, he would at least attempt to beat it into him the oddity of Starrk showing interest.

Ichigo risked a glance over to the man he had just impulsively given his first kiss to, only to find him dozing again, though Ichigo honestly doubted it was true sleep. Just like earlier, no one could get to sleep that fast. Was it really so odd for Starrk to approach someone that Grimmjow felt the need to comment on it? Apparently, yes, it was that odd.

"I don't care who started it, or who enjoyed what with whom, but if you guys don't quiet down now you will find yourselves drowning where you stand," Harribel threatened, irritated for both being woken, and that they were messing with the kid they had to teach, Urahara would not be happy if they gave him back a broken toy.

Ichigo used that as a way to avoid responded to Grimmjow, turning away from the blue haired Arrancar, and curling up to try to get back to sleep. Which wouldn't be easy, his problem had gone down a bit with the shock of Grimmjow interrupting them, but it was still enough of an issue as to be uncomfortable. Doing his best to ignore it, he forced himself to fall into a fitful sleep.

Tomorrow they would be bringing out his Hollow and it would be Hell.


	5. Falling Inside the Black

**Comatose**

**Shadow of an Echo**

**Chapter Four**

**Falling Inside the Black **

Ichigo was glad he was allowed to keep Zangetsu, though the sharp jab Grimmjow made as he informed him just made his blood boil, "It's not like you could hurt us with that butter knife anyway."

He had stripped down to his hakama, knowing he would be fighting hard and he didn't want his movements hampered by too much fabric. He stood tensely as the four Arrancar sized him up, taking in his uncovered muscles and his instinctive fighting stance. "You're off balance, put your weight a little more towards the balls of your feet, your strikes will be harder." Tia commented as she took everything in. "The way you are standing now is more for blocking, when you fight us you better fight to kill." She finished explaining.

Ichigo shifted his stance according to what she said, and despite how green he was he could feel the difference, even his grip on Zangetsu adjusted a bit. She nodded in approval, and when no further comments came, Grimmjow took the lead once more.

"Here is what will happen. We are all going to come at you, and back you into a corner, we will not be holding back. We will release our swords in our number order, starting with me, and ending with Starrk if you survive that long. Your Hollow will respond to your vulnerability and rise, once you feel him come to the surface fight to stop him. We will be watching for the moment he starts fighting you, but we will have to wing it from there, every Visored has been different." He ordered, crouching down into his own stance, drawing Pantera as he spoke.

Grimmjow was already springing towards Ichigo before the other three had readied themselves for the fight, "Grind Pantera!" He called, clawing his hand down the blade.

A heartbeat later and all four Arrancar were descending on him, a white armor encased Grimmjow in the lead. Prepared for this attack unlike Grimmjow's sucker punch the day before, Ichigo was able to defend himself against the first wave, leaping nimbly over the sand avoiding the blades and fists coming at him. A predatory grin spread across Grimmjow's face, "Maybe this will be fun after all!" He called, pouncing again, not caring he had just smacked into Ulquiorra.

Ichigo held up under the onslaught until he heard the next release, "Enclose Murcielago," and the explosion of Ulquiorra's spirit pressure was enough to throw him off balance. If he had any doubts who was the stronger Grimmjow or Ulquiorra they were gone now, that had been enough to knock the wind out of him.

Harribel took advantage of his momentary distraction and sent a wave of sharpened water at him that he barely managed to dodge, but the move unknowingly sent him into the claws of Grimmjow. He stumbled away from the attack bleeding onto the sand as Starrk came up behind him and smashed his fist into the side of his jaw, making him see stars and spit blood from his bitten tongue. He got a moment of relief when the three backed away, but was quickly reminded of the battle when a bolt of what looked like lightening shot at him, sent his way from Ulquiorra's black winged form.

Ichigo was now completely on the defensive, he could do nothing but react and block, attacking was out of the question. He was bleeding from wounds and burned from ceros. He wouldn't fall though, wouldn't give in, they expected him to fail, he wouldn't give them the satisfaction of being right.

Another clawed punch followed by a swift kick from Grimmjow sent Ichigo flying right into a bolt of energy from Ulquiorra. Ichigo landed heavily in the sand, he was half way back on his feet when a wave of spirit pressure assaulted him, slamming him back onto the gritty ground, Harribel had released her form. Rising against the pressure, his own red tinged black aura started to seep out of him, countering the pressure from the three released Arrancar.

The whites of his eyes began to bleed back, and all Ichigo could hear was echoing laughter, with a red haze clouding his vision as his vicious alter ego pushed against the binding Ichigo had around him.

"Now we are getting somewhere," Grimmjow smirked as he saw the change in the Visored. "Look at his eyes."

"Be ready for anything, we don't know how he is going to react." Harribel warned, before they attacked again. Combining their fighting styles so no matter how well Ichigo twisted and dodged, and he was honestly doing better than they had been anticipating, he would be jumping into one attack to avoid the other. With this tactic they had expected Ichigo to confront his Hollow soon after Ulquiorra joined the fight, but now Harribel was there, and Starrk would follow soon after.

Ichigo was fighting a battle that didn't have anything to do with his Hollow, well not directly anyway. He didn't know whether he should call his Bankai or not, it would help him in the moment, but would it just make it easier for his Hollow to take over, after all it was during the fight with Byakuya when he was in full Bankai that the beast had made his first outward appearance.

With the way the four Arrancar were coming after him, he didn't have a choice, concentrating his power he called out, "Bankai, Tensa Zangetsu!" The blade in his hand changed from the giant cleaver into a thin dark sword, while he was clothed in a version of Zangetsu's tattered coat. He could feel his power rising and his speed increasing, at the same time as his Hollow started pushing harder against the chains holding him, snarls escaping the albino monster.

The Espada were duly impressed with the increase in power. Kisuke had warned them he would be worth training, and this proved it. The fact he had lasted so long with only Shikai was impressive as well. Now it was a waiting game to see how long he could sustain the higher release before the parasite in his soul attempted to overtake him again.

He landed heavily on the sand as a bolt of energy from Ulquiorra raced towards him at the same time as a wave from Harribel, Grimmjow standing out of the way of the powerful attacks but ready to pounce on him as he hit the ground. It was the feline Arrancar that saw the black fully bleed into Ichigo's eyes, and the irises burned amber against the dark background.

"Back off now!" Grimmjow called, leaping nimbly away from the struggling Visored on the ground, "The fight's starting."

Ichigo no longer saw the four Espada now circling him as they carefully watched over the process. Instead he was in a sideways world of blue, white, and gleaming steel. He held himself carefully, the way Harribel had corrected him in standing. He didn't have long to wait.

The demon wore his face, the exact same face that stared at him in the mirror day after day. They were the same height, and the same build. They would be perfect twins were it not for a few small changes. His parasitic twin was snow white, the only drop of color on him were his burning amber eyes set into a sea of black. The clothes on the copy's back were like a photo negative of his own, white where his were black. Hollow hands gripped onto the hilt of a similarly color reversed Zangetsu, the treasured sward hanging nonchalantly at the imposter's side, as if the monster cared little more for the blade than if it were a pairing knife.

A slow grin spread across his albino double's face, and an odd echoing voice taunted him, "I've been waiting for you King. You took too damn long."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Ichigo called over to him, firming his grip on Zangetsu he was so tired of taunts and teases, he just wanted the ordeal over with.

The Hollow's smile turned deadly, "I was waiting for you to wake up. A victory without a battle is hardly worth celebrating. I have heard every word, seen every event, since I became a part of you. You were not worth the effort of fighting until now. No weeping heart, no hero complex, just you, me, and cold steel. Are you ready King to find out who is the ruler and who is the commoner?"

Ichigo raised Zangetsu and pointed it at the Hollow, "I'm sick of lectures, let's finish this."

The Hollow raised his own blade to match Ichigo's stance, the smirk on his face the only difference, "It will never be the end."

They stood tense and ready, only the rising and falling of their chests betrayed their continued life and not a transformation into statuary. A heartbeat later the twin swords clashed, a feral grin on one face, a determined scowl on the other.

Outside the Espada were ready when Ichigo's body started fighting again, with no control or restraint, just pure animalistic rage. Wherever a blow broke the skin, pure white material sprayed from the wound in place of blood hardening quickly into Hollow like armor. A regenerator. Things just got interesting.

Inside the Hollow was fighting his King, pushing Ichigo against buildings and blasting him through glass and concrete. Ichigo managing to block and keep himself alive, but hadn't been on the offensive since the first clash of blades. The monster side of his soul was winning, pushing his conscience further and further out of his reach.

"Quit running King, stand and fight, if you are going ta die anyway do it with some pride," The taunts crossing to Ichigo's battered form didn't cause much of a stir, but the accompanying kick to his stomach had the air rushing out of his lungs, his landing causing a good size crater to form in his internal world.

Picking himself out of the hollowed out spot in the sidewalk, he called out, "BANKAI, Tensa Zangetsu!" The large cleaver formed smoothly into the thin black Daito blade. Ichigo not having time to ponder the oddity of his reverting back into Shikai mode when he was pulled into the fight with the Hollow in the first place, he had been in Bankai fighting the Espada before hand.

The Hollow copied Ichigo, letting his own dark spirit pressure flare changing his blade to match Ichigo's once more, the fight intensifying once both were in Bankai. "You're pathetic King, how do you expect to protect anyone if ya can't even defeat little ol' me?"

That line hit a soft spot, and Ichigo growled at the Hollow before attacking him full out, the Hollow dancing away from blow after blow with that annoying grin on his face. Ichigo sent a Getsuga Tensho at the annoying being, it having little more impact than his previous tries at defeating him.

"Please King, I showed you that move, haven't you done any learnin on your own?" He mocked, before sending his own energy blast at Ichigo.

Ichigo ducked under the blast, speeding towards his Hollow rage coloring his every move. The earlier comment on his inability to protect anyone was still boiling the blood in his veins. He wanted to destroy the menace that brought his shadowy doubts into clear focus.

"That's it King, you can't only defend you have to attack. If you want to win, you must fight to kill." The Hollow informed as he narrowly dodged Ichigo's dive towards him.

He rushed at his orange-haired landlord, grinning once again as Ichigo's blade landed a blow on his cheek, the blood pouring down his paler than milk skin not fazing the Hollow.

"I will not lose!" Ichigo followed the landed blow with words far more powerful than he felt. He remembered Lesson One.

Assume everyone was stronger. The important part was that you could beat a stronger opponent, as long as you don't panic and do something stupid.

This wasn't his first fight. He had fought many a gang member as a human, and his recent journey into the spirit realm had pitched him against some of the best fighters Seireitei had to offer. He could win, but his Hollow was right, he would never win if he only defended.

He needed to attack.

Gathering up all his courage and determination, he stopped cold in his tracks, stood upright not caring about his scratched, bruised, and ripped appearance. He looked his Hollow dead in the eyes, and charged. The mocking smirk changing into a sadistic grin as their swords clashed, and for the first time Ichigo was the one forcing the Hollow to defend.

All the anger, all the desperation, and all the frustration that had been building up inside him exploded all at once. He ripped and tore into the Hollow, who wasn't just standing there taking it, blood was running down both their bodies now with their clothing in tatters. A dark shadow crossed Ichigo's deep brown eyes and the gentleness and compassion usually there vanished. He surrendered to the instinct inside of him, telling him to fight, telling him to win.

Lesson Two, there is power in submission, even if it is to your own desires.

"He finally understands," The Hollow mumbled to himself, pleased with the outcome. He followed up his words with another strike, toying with his King, enticing the bloodlust inside the teen to come out and play. Throwing one last taunt, he knew the time had come to end this, "You will never beat me Ichigo, I am the part of you meant to destroy, you will never get rid of me!" He left a small opening, nothing so big as to let Ichigo know it was done on purpose.

Ichigo fell for it, taking the bait and ending up with his blade resting smoothly at the monster's throat, but the Hollow's words brought him up short a few millimeters away from cutting into the smooth expanse of skin. "You and Zangetsu are my power right?" He demanded, digging the blade in a bit for good measure.

A mocking grin, "We are."

Ichigo's ever present scowl deepened, "If you are a part of my power, I shouldn't kill you."

A dangerous gleam came into amber on black eyes, "You should kill me, an enemy has no business being left alive."

The blade dug in no further, something not adding up in Ichigo's mind, "You are me, not the enemy. If I die so do you, if I fail so do you, but if I win that is also your victory. You gave me the strength to defeat Byakuya and save Rukia, at the cost of a good portion of my sanity. You are the reason I am still alive. You saved my life, so now I am saving yours." He let go of the Hollow, pulling his blade away from the sensitive neck, a thin trickle of blood dripping from where Zangetsu had been pressing into the pale column.

Only to be grabbed around the waist and pulled back against the Hollow's rock hard body, a blade pressed against his own throat. "It is a foolish King that lets an opponent go free."

"You are not free," Ichigo defended his actions, "You are still inside me, still under my control. You could kill me right now, I have no doubt you could, but you won't." His stomach clenched as he felt warm liquid flow from the deepening wound on his neck, he hadn't pressed that hard when he had the Hollow pinned like this, had he read him wrong?

"Oh, why wouldn't I?" The hollow practically hissed, more like a reptile than a cat, at his King's words.

"You would have done it already," Ichigo replied as calmly as he could with several feet of cold metal pressed against his neck.

"I should kill you, you know that, for letting me go. You made a break through, but ruined it by getting too damn mushy. "He complained, "For a moment you felt it, to have nothing but instinct, blacking out everything but you, me, and our swords. Why couldn't you kill me?"

"To kill you would be killing part of me. As dangerous and violent as you are, I need you. I need that side of me if I want to protect what's important." Ichigo was surprised, relieved, but surprised when the blade didn't sink deeper but instead pulled away.

He turned to look at his Hollow and was surprised to see the mocking grin had turned into a smirk, but not the one earlier, if Ichigo didn't know better that was pride on the albino's face, the words that followed only making Ichigo think he had fallen into insanity and this was all some kind of joke, "Finally you admit it."

"Huh?" Ichigo wasn't in the mood for a more eloquent response.

The odd look was replaced by the more familiar grin, the once creepy expression now calming Ichigo with its normalcy, "You admit that as much as you want me to be separate, we aren't. You just admitted I was a side of yourself, to the point of saying you needed it. What do you think all of us had been waiting for?"

"They wanted me to defeat you," Ichigo was caught off guard by his mirror's snort of laughter.

The Hollow wiped a few tears of mirth from his eyes, "Why would some of the most violent people I have ever come across want you to defeat the part of you that makes you more like them?"

"So this wasn't about me defeating you?" Ichigo hated feeling this confused.

The Hollow shook his head, "No, not defeat, understand. If you hadn't started to understand, to finally let go and let the feral side come out, I would have killed you, I will not serve a weak King. Violence is a part of you, has always been, and will always be. If you are constantly trying to suppress me, and keep me chained away, you will lose your fights."

"Why am I King?" Ichigo hadn't missed the Hollow's favorite form of address.

"You aren't yet, but you will be," The Hollow answered, "You are only on lesson two, there are many more to come."

"Why are you doing this?" Ichigo forced himself to ask, not expecting an answer.

The Hollow seemed to huff a bit with the question, "I'm not sure I should answer ya, if you can't figure it out why should I tell you?"

"If I understand deeper, I can give you more of what you want." Ichigo shrugged a bit at this, not missing the slightly stunned look on his Hollow's face.

"I want to be strong." The Hollow answered, "We are both strong alone, but together we are more than they know."

"I want to fight with you, not against you, can we do that?" Ichigo wasn't so sure about that.

"We have to," The Hollow answered, "If you don't want to die by the hands of the Soul Reapers they must believe you have conquered me and have me under control. They want you to dominate our soul, when in truth we are equals."

"We had better get some practice or they will see right through us." Ichigo ran his hand through his hair in agitation at the thought of getting caught and executed over this.

The mocking grin was back, "Why do you think we are in Heuco Mundo?"

"How in the Hell did they plan all this out, when I could have sworn they all hated the thought of you?" Ichigo grumbled, feeling like he was lied to again.

"Shinigami know little about those with Hollows inside. We are the first crossbreed to start out as a Shinigami and retain our sanity. They have no way of knowing what was going to happen. They brought you here in case I was a threat as much as if I wasn't, we could do far less damage to the realms here if we failed to come to an agreement."

Ichigo had to interrupt him there, "What do you mean damage?"

"While we fight in here, our body fights out there. Those four have been keeping us from rampaging all over the desert, but you are fully Hollowfied at the moment. That form will not break until you release it. Our mask has a time limit because of the huge amounts of Spirit Pressure it controls in such a small form, but our full form doesn't have the constraint of size."

"Our mask?"

"Yes now that you have acknowledged me, the same as you had to do with Zangetsu by learning his name, you can call on my power and pull up our Mask, it will double the power of our Bankai at least."

Ichigo's scowl softened at the thought, "We are that powerful?"

"Yes," The Hollow's grin never waivered as Ichigo came to his newest revelation.

"Are the other Visored's just as strong?" He asked quietly.

The Hollow shrugged, "I have no way of knowing that, Urahara had to help me understand as much as I do as it is."

"What do you mean?"

"I haven't been around forever, my knowledge was a gift from my creator, otherwise I would only know what I was around for since you climbed out of that pit." The albino admitted.

"Did he give you a name? I had to learn Zangetsu's in order to partner with him in battle, is it the same for you?"

The Hollow seemed to shudder, "Oh he gave me a name alright, I originally had no name, but he thought it would be amusing to stick me with something he knew I would want to kill him for."

"What is it?" The teenaged Visored asked curiously.

His grumbled reply was barely audible, but it had Ichigo wanting to laugh outright, "Junichi."

"Obedient one?" No wonder you want to kill him. Other than the meaning it is a nice name, and my name has Ichi in it too, and you are a part of me. He managed to find a name that both fits and insults you at the same time. Sounds like Urahara to me." Ichigo spoke to keep himself from laughing too hard, it really wasn't a bad name, but to give the head strong Hollow a name that meant obedient was only something Urahara could pull off while managing not to get killed in the process.

"Shut it Strawberry," Junichi griped.

"Hey I was trying to be sympathetic!" Ichigo protested.

"Well it didn't work!" Junichi grumbled some more, "I think maybe you should go back to the outside world and give the Espada a break. They could fight us all day, but they probably think I killed you by now or something."

Ichigo took offense to that, "Thanks for the vote of confidence, did anyone think I could win against you?"

"Starrk did," Junichi teased.

"And you could tell that how?" Ichigo demanded, working on controlling his blush.

A sly smirk scarily reminiscent of Grimmjow crossed Junichi's face, "You really think he would bother with such a personal 'lesson' if he thought you wouldn't make it through today?"

Ichigo saved himself the trouble of responding by abruptly pulling himself out of his mind and back to the outside world.

It was an odd feeling the shell of his Hollow form peeling slowly away, leaving him with the mask as the last piece. As everything hit him at once, he collapsed forwards in the sand, the new white accessory slipping off and falling to the ground.

"Well is that you Whelp or the Hollow?" Grimmjow was the first to speak after his mask fell.

"It's Ichigo," He replied numbly, fatigue washing over him.

"So you won did you?" Grimmjow pressed.

A slow smile crossed Ichigo's face, not a grin, just a slight upturn of his lips, "No, but I wasn't supposed to. He is my equal." With that Ichigo stopped fighting the blackness and let himself fall. Nothing sounded better right then as hour upon hours of sleep.

"Well Starrk, looks like a single kiss was all it took for your laziness to infect him," It was at that moment that Grimmjow realized he had just insulted the fully awake Primera Espada.

Glowing blue wolves chased the feline Arrancar over the sand dunes, all the while Starrk stared down at the sleeping Visored, glad that he had been right about the boy.

Ulquiorra and Harribel dropped into the sand, slipping out of their released forms, but the two stoic ones did not speak. They respected the privacy of their eldest associate, Starrk had claimed the boy, it would be interesting to see what came of it, but no one was suicidal enough to interfere.


	6. Whispers in the Dark

**Comatose**

**Shadow of an Echo**

A/N For once my hands weren't hurting too badly this weekend, so I am updating as many stories as I can. I had serious... ooh look a chicken, what a cute chicken, nice chic... distraction issues ...Ohh shiny! What a pretty shiny, I will take you and call you my shiny... Ah sorry about that. So as bad as my editing usually is, it may be a tad worse this chapter. I am seriously having trouble concentrating on anything for more than about five minutes, but I really wanted to update. I am even writing this before I finished the chapter, the urge to write it didn't even wait for me to finish my sentence. I apologize in advance.

**Chapter Five**

**Whispers in the Dark**

Ichigo had been woken up a number of unpleasant ways in his life, his father's flying kicks on the top of his list of obnoxious ways of exiting dreamland. Well that _was_ the top of the list, now he had a new least favorite way.

Hey you wouldn't like it either if you were woken up by a large body slamming into yours so hard you sunk into the gritty ground six inches, lost every bit of air in your lungs, and had to wonder briefly if there were any ribs left that were not cracked.

That wasn't even the worst of it. If that had been an attack meant for him, than the fault would be his own for letting his guard lower too far but no, he just had to be caught in the crossfire between another of Ulquiorra and Grimmjow's spars. At least this one seemed to be an actual fight and not their version of foreplay.

Grimmjow was heavy, and apparently the blow that had blasted him on top of the slumbering Visored had been strong enough to stun him as well because he still hadn't moved off him. The need for oxygen was becoming a problem, so Ichigo did the first thing he thought of. Grabbing the clothed wrapped tang of Zangetsu, kept like always at his side while he slept, he aimed a one handed blow at the gasping Arrancar.

"Oi Grimmjow, get off!" He ordered as he felt the blade connect with the Espada's arm. The large sword cut into the first layer of skin and muscle before a growl reached his ears, and Grimmjow quickly flipped over and pinned Ichigo down, blood running down his right arm.

"Damn Whelp," He rumbled, voice half way between a growl and a wheeze as he was still trying to catch his breath, "What was that for?"

"I could ask you the same thing, seeing as you landed on me!" Ichigo bit out, trying to push the larger body off of him, but he couldn't quite manage it. _'Hey King, you follow my lead and we can have some fun with the kitty if you ever manage to be the one to pin him!' _Ichigo wasn't sure if Junichi was trying to encourage him or insult him, he was leaning towards the latter.

Grimmjow, unaware of the commentary running through Ichigo's mind, simply sat back, sitting on Ichigo's hips so he still couldn't move, but Grimmjow could get a better view of their surroundings. Which happened to include a stoic looking Ulquiorra, waiting for Grimmjow to recover and resume their spar, "You need to keep your guard up, this is the third time you could have prevented an injury from me." He groused at Ichigo to cover up the fact he needed another few moments for the feeling to come back to his legs after the hit he took.

Ichigo's eyes narrowed at the lack of the usual bite in Grimmjow's insults, but he had taken a few hits like that himself before, and he had a good idea what was wrong with Grimmjow, "So this is my fault? I'm guessing you're also going to try and tell me if you tried to stand up now it wouldn't be a problem?"

"Why would it be?" Grimmjow responded arrogantly, increasing the amount of force, he was using to keep Ichigo pinned.

Ichigo turned his head to spot Ulquiorra, "Hey Ulquiorra he's all yours!" He called before bucking his hips sharply, flinging Grimmjow off him, who hadn't been expecting Ichigo to be able to fight him.

The next few moments were some of the most amusing he had experienced since coming to Heuco Mundo, as his suspicions were confirmed when Grimmjow could barely stand, let alone block Ulquiorra's sudden attack. It was with vindictive glee that he watched the current bane of his existence be pounded into the sand by what looked like a much smaller and weaker opponent.

"Nicely handled, but if you couldn't budge him at first, how could you throw him off for Ulquiorra to attack?" Ichigo was startled when Starrk spoke; he had thought the oldest Espada would be sleeping still since he was always the last one up.

Ichigo got a dangerous gleam in his eyes, "At first he was holding me down with his arms, he is stronger than me for now, but once he switched how he was holding me so he could watch out for Ulquiorra I realized his legs weren't working right. I waited until his own guard was lowered before bucking him off."

"You have good instincts in a fight," Starrk noted, "You did well against the four of us, much better than we were expecting, and we had been warned you were worth training. Our expectations weren't all that low to begin with."

"Thanks, I think," Again Ichigo wasn't sure which way to take the comment, but since it was from Starrk, he decided to take it as a good thing. "I learned some of what I know from formal training, but most of it came off the streets or from my invasion of the Seireitei. When all you have is yourself against five gang members your instincts get a decent work out."

Starrk nodded, "Fighting is one thing that's better to learn by doing. I'd rather avoid a fight personally, but I believe that if something is important enough to fight over, than you had better be tough enough to win. I didn't earn my number by simply being the oldest."

"How did you earn your number? I know they mentioned the Espada were the most successful of Urahara's experiments, but what do they mean by successful?" Ichigo figured if Starrk brought it up, than it was safe to ask questions about it.

Starrk lounged back, he's eyes closed against the moonlight filtering down to the desert floor. "We earned our numbers by being the toughest in a given field. Then we fought each other to rank the fields according to just how deadly they are. In essence, each of us is an aspect of death. This used to be all that defined us, but as time passed, the definitions got a little looser. For an example Ulquiorra represents emptiness, with a near total disbelief that there is anything in life beyond what is concrete. In other words he had very little concept of anything beyond what you can see or touch, but as he aged and discovered more he has branched out a little. He understands lust now, and desire, but probably doesn't understand love. In time he might, but not yet. "

Ichigo took a few minutes to ponder that. It explained a lot about Ulquiorra, the way he seemed so anti-social and unemotional, if you don't believe in anything you couldn't touch or see, emotions weren't something you were going to know were they? Wait. Why did Starrk use Ulquiorra as an example? He was an Espada too, so he had to have an aspect, was it hard to understand, or did Starrk just not trust Ichigo enough to tell him?

Starrk watched the thoughts cross Ichigo's face, the boy wasn't very good at covering his thoughts, so it wasn't hard to tell something was bothering the Visored, "If you are worried about something, just ask, the worst I will do is not answer. I already told you I prefer to avoid fighting, so I'm not going to hurt you if your question doesn't come out right."

"Why did you use Ulquiorra as an example, when you should have an aspect of your own, do you not trust me? I mean you did just meet me, but I just thought, well, I really don't know what I thought." Ichigo was frustrated, he was stronger than this damn it, what was so hard about telling Stark he thought that the exchange they had the first night he was there meant he was important to the Arrancar?

Starrk hid the chuckle that fought to escape, he knew what kept Ichigo from being able to talk freely, but he didn't know how to get him past it other than to just let the boy come into his own naturally. "You're probably thinking because of how I greeted you, that I would be able to tell you something like this?" He paused there, honestly curious if Ichigo would answer.

"Something like that," Ichigo muttered, this time he managed to keep from going beet red, but there was still a tinge of pink across his cheeks and the tips of his ears.

Starrk found it cute, "You don't have anything to worry about." He took pity on Ichigo and decided not to tease him. "I used Ulquiorra as an example because he is the one that is the easiest to explain and understand what I mean by us all having an aspect, but that with time we can change from being purely about it."

"So, if I asked what your aspect was, you would answer?" Ichigo was glad Starrk hadn't indulged the urge that must have been hitting him pretty hard, if he had been Grimmjow he would have jumped at the opportunity to make him uncomfortable.

"Solitude," Starrk responded, "My field of expertise was in solo combat, in raw power I am the strongest of the Arrancar that have gathered in Las Noches. Before Urahara discovered me, I had driven all other Hollows away, they suffocated under my spirit pressure. I lived alone. I fought alone. I became the one thing that kills the most mortals, when they give up the will to live they die swiftly. Age doesn't matter, or gender, or race, all that matters is when you find yourself without any rock or anchor to hold you to the world you fade quickly."

"Do you have a rock?" Ichigo asked quietly, as he took in everything Starrk said.

"Yes, I have more than one," Starrk confirmed. "The first is Lilynette, she is in essence my Zanpakuto, but with my loneliness and the amount of power we share she is manifested in this realm instead of locked away in my inner world. The next is the Espada, they are the strongest Arrancar around, so I can be in their presence without harming them. I have to be a little careful with the lower level Arrancar, but I can suppress my power enough to make it through the day. It takes a lot of energy to hold it all back, that's most of the reason I have to sleep so much. Arrancar typically don't need sleep, it is a luxury we can indulge it from time to time, but we shouldn't actually have to. That isn't the case with me."

That was news to Ichigo, so his first night here they hadn't actually needed to sleep, meaning that was done purely for him? Hmm, maybe these guys weren't so bad after all. "So are you suppressing your power now because of me?" Starrk had been sleeping an awful lot.

Starrk shook his head, "Not since the first night, with you that close I was able to test you a bit, you held up as well as the Espada do. Although it did let me know we should probably work on your sensing skills, you should have felt it when I spiked my power. I have been sleeping less and less as time goes with just the five of us out here. I'm still going to sleep a lot to save up strength for when we return to the fortress, but I will be training you with my full power."

"I appreciate that, I won't learn anything with my teachers holding back," Ichigo said determinedly, "So what are the other's aspects?"

"Of the ones here, Grimmjow should be the easiest, his is Destruction. His expertise is in melee fighting, he prefers fists and feet over swords, and that's even more evident in his released state. He will pick a fight, anywhere, anytime, with anyone he thinks will give him a good challenge. Harribel's is sacrifice. She is even more reluctant to fight than I am, but like me she will if given a reason. She has to have a cause worth fighting for in order for her to turn violent, but once she does she is nearly unstoppable. The others, I want you to meet them first before I tell you. I want to see if you can figure out what they represent." Starrk explained.

Ichigo didn't like the sound of that, "I already failed Harribel's test miserably, what makes you think I will do nay better with yours? Where is she by the way?"

Starrk decided to indulge him a bit in his frustration because he found it amusing. "You didn't fail, you knew the answer, just didn't want to admit it. My question isn't as personal, whether they have beaten you or not doesn't have any bearing on their aspect like it does with our order. She volunteered to go back to Las Noches and inform them you successfully fought your Hollow so we will be returning soon."

Their conversation was rudely interrupted, again by Grimmjow which made the blue haired Sexta cringe away from the death glare thrown his way from the Primera, "Hey Whelp since you seem to be in a fighting mood, we should get started training you."

Ichigo was pleased to notice the cut on Grimmjow's arm had yet to fully heal, though the blood had stopped flowing. Damn their speedy healing rate. "Oh alright, should probably get something done today. I don't know what would happen if I let Junichi get bored." He started pulling himself out of the crater Grimmjow's earlier landing had forced him in to while listening to Junichi's comments, _'Aww King don't you trust me?'_

_'Trust you? Yes. Leave you bored long enough for you to plot world domination? Not gonna happen.' _Ichigo replied, and was glad to see Starrk was also pulling himself up off the ground.

"Grimmjow, you and Ulquiorra go take a break, I will be working with Ichigo first," Starrk blocked the overeager bluenette from getting to his Ichigo.

Grimmjow was shocked at Starrk's claim, "Wait, you want his first lesson to be with you? Even I am not suicidal enough to pick a fight with you!"

"Could have fooled me, because you are close to achieving that very thing," Starrk warned, "I am taking his first lesson, you may watch, but you will not interfere."

Ichigo wasn't upset about the turn of events, but it was a matter of pride that made him speak up, "Don't I get a say?"

"No." Three voices in varying different tones all chorused at the same time, and Ichigo hadn't even been aware that Ulquiorra had been listening in.

Ichigo huffed, but lifted Zangetsu up to rest on his shoulder as he faced Starrk, realizing for the first time that Starrk was a few inches taller than him, but Ichigo had a heavier build. "So what did you have in mind?"

"I want you to attack me, you have good instincts, and you're tough. I watched you while we all fought you, but fighting one is different from four, I want to see what you can do. Don't hold back, because I won't be. Well I might start out slow, but I will build up to full power depending on how long you last." The was about seeing where Ichigo was really at in his fighting skill, the more they knew about what he could already do, the better idea they would have of how to build on it.

There was also the fact Starrk enjoyed watching Ichigo fight, but that was a personal thing.

Ulquiorra and Grimmjow settled on a dune far enough away they shouldn't be in the way, but close enough to watch, as Ichigo and Starrk squared off against each other.

Ichigo didn't bother with Shikai, he ran at Starrk already calling out his Bankai, feeling Shiro rise within him, but the Hollow didn't try to take over, he was only supporting his King. Starrk let the blast of raw spirit power wash over him. It was invigorating to feel such strength untainted by too many battles. Waiting until the last instant he drew his sword and blocked in a move so fast normal eyes couldn't follow.

To his delight Ichigo's speed increased another notch, the clash of metal on metal ringing out over the desert. He led Ichigo into several traps, only for the Visored to wiggle out of them. Both of them steadily warming up their muscles and testing the other's strength.

Ichigo didn't have any doubts Starrk could crush him like a bug if he was really trying to, but that wasn't what this was about. This was a searching fight, intended to gather intelligence. Instead of coming on immediately with his full strength the Primera was testing different styles and methods to see which Ichigo could block and which he couldn't.

It was obvious Ichigo had far more training with hand-to-hand fighting than with his sword. A weapon of that caliber had to have more uses than the boy was showing, but for being such a novice he was holding up surprisingly well. With that bit of information, Starrk moved into closer quarters, wanting to see if he could get Ichigo to abandon his sword and fight him the way he had trained himself to be good at.

Starrk may have been disappointed if it weren't for Junichi, _'King, you should let him disarm you." _The hollow advised, even as Starrk continued a barrage of short thrusts and strikes, not letting Ichigo dodge more than a few feet away before he was right back on top of them.

_'You really are crazy! He'll kill us." _Ichigo protested trying to keep up with Starrk's speed, and not doing a very good job.

_'No he won't. He's testing us, he wants to see how we fight. Put the sword down and show him what we can do. You can street fight better than Grimmjow, now show him!" _Junichi commanded.

_'How the Hell am I better than Grimmjow?" _Ichigo was being pressed even harder, he may not have a choice but to obey Junichi if the onslaught kept up, it seemed Starrk was moving even faster with every step.

Junichi didn't have a lot of patience to begin with, but this was getting ridiculous, _'You forgot your first lesson! Grimmjow might be stronger, but you are better. If you could get the upper hand in the fight you would win, but he comes on more strongly. It's what I was trying to tell you earlier!' _He snapped.

_'You better be right, or it's both our funeral.' _Ichigo insisted, before allowing Zangetsu to be knocked out of his hands. He'd fought people with knives before, and swords did have a weakness.

He barreled into Starrk, stepping past the point the long blade could be successfully used, once inside the Espada's guard Ichigo attacked with every close quarters move he knew. Forcing as much power as he could into each blow he struck at Starrk. In response to the changed tactic, Starrk also dropped his blade, and caught Ichigo around the middle and threw him to the ground, much like Ulquiorra had done to Grimmjow.

Ichigo twisted as they landed, avoiding being pinned, and springing back up to aim a kick at Starrk's head. Starrk dodged to the side, trying to grab Ichigo in a headlock, but the Visored ducked out of his grip, only to try and sweep Starrk's feet out from under him. Starrk let himself be knocked down, but grabbed Ichigo and brought him down with him. He wrestled the writhing form until he was straddling Ichigo's waist, tan arms pinned down above bright orange hair, and a look of irritation on Ichigo's face as he raged at his inner Hollow.

Junichi had this to say in his defense, _'I said you were better than Grimmjow, never said anything about him." _

_'Could have warned me about that!' _Ichigo yelled back, the odd flash of something new to him in Starrk's eyes was causing mayhem in his system.

_'I thought you would know, and by the way King, he isn't upset. That look he's got, that my dear King, is pure lust.' _Junichi teased, even as he felt the gaze of the powerful Arrancar drilling into both of them.

"Quit yelling at your Hollow and come back to me," Starrk ordered, the words ghosting into Ichigo's ear at the potentially intimate position they found themselves in at the end of the fight.

Ichigo's eyes narrowed at the order, "He made me think if I did that I stood a chance."

_'Did not, you deluded yourself!' _Junichi protested.

The chuckle Starrk let out rumbled through his chest and Ichigo suddenly found it a bit more difficult to breath as the reality of just how close they were laying against each other came crashing against him. "You did exactly what I wanted you to do. I wanted to see the way you grew up fighting. That is a beautiful weapon, but you don't know how to use it yet. Your body is much more finely tuned and you did well." Starrk assured, even as he felt Ichigo's breath hitch.

He wasn't about to rush in letting the Visored up either, he finally had Ichigo exactly where he wanted him. It also didn't escape his notice that Grimmjow and Ulquiorra had taken this as their cue to leave, both travelling across the sand dunes, and Starrk didn't have to use much of his brain to figure out what the two may be doing with some alone time. That was good, he really would kill Grimmjow if the Sexta interrupted his time with Ichigo again.

"So what was the lesson? How to get my ass kicked 101?" Ichigo asked with a deep scowl in place, not realizing he wasn't protesting Starrk's close proximity even a little bit.

"No, Lesson Three is harder and a much more complicated thing to learn than the first two lessons. Lesson three is this, read your opponent, know what they are good at, and know what you can do to counter it. You did part of it that instinctively when you threw down your sword and instead of running away got closer. You knew it would be much more difficult to land a hit on you without hurting myself if you were right up against me. You proved to be tougher than expected when you avoided being pinned that first time. I only brought you down the second because you relaxed a fraction when you thought I was off balance." Starrk lectured, letting a bit more of his weight settle on top of Ichigo, he wasn't going to take this too far, but he was going to test his boundaries a bit.

"Read my opponent? That's the lesson?" Ichigo asked for confirmation as the beginnings of plan stirred in the back of his mind, Junichi cackling as he deciphered the plan. _'Yes, you should definitely see what would happen!'_

"Yes," Starrk answered what he thought was a very obvious question, till he saw the gleam in Ichigo's eyes that both worried him slightly and made him curious to know what the young man was plotting.

He didn't have long to ponder, because Ichigo leaned up and kissed him, a slight brush of their lips, only a bit less tentative then their first kiss. Starrk smiled into it, the brazen side of Ichigo interesting him as much as the innocent parts. "Are you sure you want to start something?" he tried to keep the smirk out of his voice, he really did.

Ichigo kissed him again.

Starrk took that as permission, he released Ichigo's wrists, feeling those long arms warp around his shoulders as he deepened the kiss, sinking into the Visored's embrace.

He let his guard drop. He really should have known better.

Ichigo resisted the urge to grin into the kiss.

He got distracted and kissed back for a few minutes, only Junichi's slightly manic laughter bringing him back to reality and his plan.

With one smooth motion he pushed himself up and turned them over, so he was the one stretched out over the Espada's lean body, smiling mischievously at the startled Primera. Starrk was surprised enough to let out a growl at the loss of Ichigo's lips on his.

He didn't have to worry.

Ichigo wasn't quite that mean, close, but not quite.

This time he leaned down and kissed Starrk soundly, enjoying the feeling of being in control, even if he was fully aware that Starrk could have just turned him over and pinned him down again if he really wanted to.

Starrk didn't want to. His fiery little Visored was surprising him over and over again, in good ways. He kissed Ichigo back until they were forced to break apart to breath, only then did he speak, "Urahara was right, you do learn fast."

Ichigo shut him up with a kiss.


	7. The Older I Get

**Comatose**

**Shadow of an Echo**

A/N I would like to address a concern one of my reviewers had, I would have answered privately, but I think more of you may have thought the same thing so I am answering publicly. It is about the character selection for this story, it was suggested I switch it to Starrk instead of Ukitake, my response is have patience. I have barely started to get into the serious part of the story. Starrk is going to be involved intimately with Ichigo (I did warn in the summary that it was a multi-pairing story) to a greater degree than he already has, but let me ask you this. Did you stay with the first person you were ever intimate with? Chances are good the answer is no. I know I didn't. Ukitake will be a prominent character as well as partner to Ichigo, that is simply for later in the story. In the first chapter I gave a list of characters that I will be dealing with heavily, Starrk was on the list. So sit back and enjoy, and remember it is only just beginning.

**Chapter Six**

**The Older I Get  
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"Welcome to Las Noches Whelp, you had better be ready for this." Grimmjow introduced as they arrived at the tower complex.

Three weeks had been spent in the desert. Ichigo was fighting almost continually during that time, either one-on-one or in a group match. All of it designed to teach him his third lesson. He had to learn how to read attacks, whether from a familiar opponent or a stranger. He had gotten strong enough to keep up with Ulquiorra in his first stage of release. Grimmjow and Ichigo could spar for nearly an hour before one was forced to yield, and as time wore on the yielding was done by Grimmjow more and more.

Starrk watched Ichigo come into his own, and it became harder and harder to resist the Visored. He had kept his advances tame, and let Ichigo set the pace, but he wouldn't last much longer. The more feral Ichigo grew, the more Starrk wanted him.

He was now at the level it was time to introduce the other Espada, and expand on his lessons. Junichi was proving to be a strong and capable teacher, at the same time as Ichigo was learning how to command him in a way that suited both of them. The four that had been training him in the desert were curious to see how the other six were going to react to both Ichigo and Junichi. The two could be quite chaotic when they agreed on a plot, it didn't happen often, but when it did all Hell could break loose.

Ichigo scanned the complex carefully, not reacting to Grimmjow's words. He had gained the ability to tune him out. Las Noches was not what he was expecting, it wasn't really a building, more a group of towers and low structures connected by open air. The most surprising aspect of it was he could see lights shining out from the towers, and illuminating the sand between them. "Where did the lights come from?" He asked curiously, there wasn't any wires or anything leading to the towers to suggest electricity. It was truly strange.

"That's Szayel's doing. He's always running an experiment on something. He gives us light, Harribel fills the reservoirs below the towers so we have water, and we send out the small fry to pick up living world food when we are in the mood for something different." Grimmjow seemed almost proud of the advances they had made, but Ichigo noticed something.

He got a dismissive look on his face, and a bored tone to his voice, "You sound so proud, but I didn't hear you claim any of that stuff. What have you done for the good of the group?"

"He protects the fortress, along with Nnoitra, we might be the strongest around here, but that doesn't mean other Hollows aren't a nuisance if they get too close or in too high numbers." Starrk informed him, not wanting the two to allow their argument to devolve into a sparring match. That was fine out in the desert, but they had to introduce Ichigo to the others before they could indulge in any more fighting.

"The others are waiting for us, come on." Ulquiorra informed, leading the group to the tallest tower in the cluster. Silently agreeing with Starrk that the situation needed diffused before it could get more heated.

Ichigo unconsciously stepped closer to Starrk as they entered the tower, he could feel eyes on him as they walked to the meeting room. It hadn't truly hit him until now that for the number ranking to make sense, there would have to be many more Arrancar than the ten Espada. "The meeting is for Espada only, I will take you to meet Lilynette after it." He was distracted from his musings by the comment from Starrk.

"I was meaning to ask you about that. If Lilynette is your Zanpakuto, than how could you fight me at full power during training when she wasn't with us?" Ichigo asked to distract himself from the sudden rush of nerves.

Amusement danced in the elder Espada's eyes, "I told you I would be fighting at _my_ full power, I didn't say I would be fighting at _our _full power. You weren't quite ready for that yet, but you are now. In addition when Lilynette and I release, our form does not really help you with your sword training. You will understand when you see it."

They reached the meeting room not long after, and Starrk had to put a hand on Ichigo's back and shove him inside, taking pity on him and making the gesture as inconspicuous as possible. It wouldn't be a good first impression to show fear.

Six sets of unfamiliar eyes drilled into Ichigo, but with Starrk so reassuringly close he was able to meet and match each one. Evaluating each gaze, and letting his gut instinct pick out which were worth knowing, and which should probably be avoided as much as possible.

"If you are done with the starring contests, we should go sit down and introduce you," Harribel drawled, spurring Ichigo and the others into action.

The Visored found himself settled between Starrk and an unfamiliar Espada; he was exceptionally tall, with long black hair, and an eye patch covering one side of his face. Ulquiorra was on Starrk's other side, Grimmjow across from him, and Harribel at the other end of the table beside an older looking Arrancar and a pink haired Espada with a mask that looked like glasses.

"This is Urahara's prized Visored? He's just a kid!" The pink haired one protested almost as soon as they were seated.

Surprisingly Grimmjow spoke up, "I would watch it Pinky, this one could be trouble for you."

A snort from the tall Espada next to Ichigo, "I sense a bruised ego, what did he do Grimmjow, beat you up?"

"Oh shut up Nnoitra," Grimmjow snapped back, a wide grin appearing on the Espada now identified as Nnoitra's face.

"He did?" There was excitement to Nnoitra's voice, the same kind Ichigo had heard from Kenpachi after Ichigo managed to make him bleed, and he stared down at the orange haired boy speculatively. "I'm fifth Espada Nnoitra Jiruga, who will I have the pleasure of beating into the sand when this meeting is over?"

Ichigo's eyes narrowed and he bristled at the implication, "Ichigo Kurosaki, and I will not be the one losing."

"Well we'll see about that," Nnoitra drawled, leaning back in his chair, stretching languidly as if Ichigo's anger meant nothing to him, which it probably didn't.

"Anyone else wanting to challenge me?" Ichigo growled, his quick temper burning through his previous nervousness.

He was not expecting the burst of laughter that followed. Coming from the same Espada Grimmjow had called Pinky, at least he wasn't the only one the Sexta had saddled with a demeaning nickname. "This one could end up being fun." The Espada claimed, after getting control over himself. "Grimmjow you should know, the more trouble I am caused, the better the research subject."

"Just who are you?" Ichigo demanded, "I doubt your real name is Pinky."

An angry tick appeared on his forehead, "If you even think about calling me that, you will be nothing but pieces floating in jars in my lab before you could blink. I am the Eighth Espada, Szayel Aporro Granz."

A nudge to his leg, and soft bit of advice came from Starrk after that, "I would stop antagonizing for a bit, Nnoitra and Szayel have banded together before to eliminate a stronger opponent. Tread carefully." Ichigo squeezed his thigh under the table in affirmative reply.

"Just how good is he?" An Espada with dark skin, odd facial tattoos, and spike like mask fragments lined up in a row on the top if his head and surrounding his throat like a necklace. As if it were an afterthought, he introduced himself, "Zommari Leroux, Seventh Espada."

"He can keep up with my first release, he hasn't beaten me, but he has come close when he joins with his Hollow." Ulquiorra reported emotionlessly. Unlike Grimmjow, he had gone into this knowing the boy would probably surpass them, anything less would not have caught Urahara's attention as he had.

Surprising the other Espada, Starrk spoke next, "He has fought me, without his sword, and can last almost twenty minutes."

"That doesn't mean much, you are always holding back." A large Espada, with a mask fragment like a complete lower jaw, interrupted.

Starrk resisted the urge to smirk, but that was too far out of character for him during a meeting, keeping a firm hold on his composure he replied simply, "The last couple spars, I wasn't holding back Yammy."

Nnoitra's grin widened even further as he heard the claim by Starrk, getting more excited at the prospect of a good brawl with the newcomer.

The first to speak after Starrk's claim was the oddest appearing Espada, he had a white mask fully covering his face, with just a few small holes cut into the mask not wide enough to see what lay beneath. The voice when he spoke was oddly disjointed, one high and sounding almost female, the other deep and male, "Well that's interesting," The first voice stated, "What about you Harribel, how does he measure up?" The second voice finished.

"I have to draw my sword," Was all she replied, but it was enough for another round of speculative glances sent Ichigo's way. She didn't draw that sword unless she was willing to kill her opponent, she wouldn't do that to a student unless she thought they could hold up under her attacks. Since Ichigo was still breathing, he obviously had.

The mask turned in Ichigo's direction, "We are the Ninth Espada." Voice switched, "Aaroniero Arruruerie."

"We?" Ichigo was curious about that.

"Trust me Whelp, better not to ask," Grimmjow warned, even as a kind of bubbling chuckle came from the mask in two different tones.

"We will show you… Some other time," They informed him.

"I don't see why everyone is so excited, no matter how good he is, he's still just one fighter. Have you forgotten what we are up against?" The old Espada spoke for the first time, and it was enough to silence the whole table.

Ichigo broke the silence, "I only know the basics, that a group of people stole some of Urahara's research and managed to screw themselves over. I want to know more about them. Just how strong are they? What are they after?"

"They call themselves Visoreds. They are the mirror image of Arrancar. I assume you have already been told about the differences physically, one starting out a Hollow, the other Shinigami, correct?" Szayel spoke like he was giving a lecture, firm and no nonsense, with a slight air of arrogance. At Ichigo's nod of agreement, he continued, "There is a step beyond that creating the true difference between the two. When a Hollow willingly breaks their mask, they regain a part of their conscience they gave up during the original transformation from a Whole soul. An Arrancar is deadlier than a Hollow not just because we are stronger, but because we can think far clearer and less instinctual than our mother race. Visoreds gave up their conscience. They have all the power of a Shinigami, with a Hollow giving them an additional burst of power, but none of the refined control. They are dangerous in the way a tsunami is, you throw enough power into an attack and it doesn't matter how refined the attack is, you are still just as dead. The combination of power they hold puts most Visoreds at least at equal strength of the Espada. We have numbers on our side, there are only eight surviving Visoreds, but since they can blend in far better in the living world they have the advantage of stealth."

When Szayel stopped long enough Ichigo was pretty sure his explanation was over, he asked his next question, "That answered what they are, now what are they after? I would imagine if it was general destruction, action would have been taken already, either by you are the Soul Society."

"We don't know. That is something we've never figured out, because you're right, if they were out making nuisances of themselves someone would have cleaned them up by now. The only reason we know they are active again is because Urahara has been tracking them, and they set off a few of his traps. They started moving around again at the same time you were created." Grimmjow spoke now, he and Ulquiorra had the most recent contact with Urahara and knew more of the details.

A thought sparked at that, "Could they be curious about how I was formed without losing my conscience?"

Ulquiorra answered him, "Not likely, it's not widely known exactly how you are different from them. It might not have anything to do with you, because your awakening was closely timed with the upheaval in the Soul Society."

"So they could have been reacting to Aizen, not me. Why would they react to him? They are in the Living World, he was in Soul Society." He was slowly wrapping his mind around the situation, each answer clarifying the picture in his head.

Starrk answered this one, breaking his usual silence yet again, "The Visoreds used to be in the Seireitei, most of them were Captain class. Their leader is a man by the name of Shinji Hirako, and when he was in the thirteen squads, Aizen was his Lieutenant."

"I knew they were Soul Reapers, didn't know they were that high level. Does this mean with Aizen gone, they might go back under whatever rock they crawled out from?" Even Ichigo didn't think that was true, but it needed to be asked.

The Espada who brought up the subject in the first place answered him, "Too many unanswered questions. Once something like that is woken up, it rarely goes back to sleep without a fight. The question I have is this, they have no conscience, therefore shouldn't be rational. If they are part of some deeper plot, who was strong enough to command them?"

"Aizen was powerful," Ichigo answered with a slight tremor, "He might have even succeeded in his plan had we not forced him to show his hand early. A few more days, and it could have ended very differently."

A shake of a scarred head, "No, they wouldn't follow someone who hadn't proven their power. Don't think of them as human, they aren't anymore though neither are we; they are more like a pack of wolves. The strongest wolf leads the pack, but they must prove themselves worthy of the title. Think deeper, Aizen wasn't the Alpha wolf yet, so who was?"

"Never thought of it that way, but you have a point." Ichigo agreed.

Starrk nudged his leg again, before speaking to the whole table, "Aizen showed interest in Ichigo, he drastically underestimated him, but we may be able to track that interest back to the one holding his strings. Anyone powerful enough to keep a leash on the Visoreds is bound to be trouble."

"There was something else that happened during Aizen's plan, Central 46 was slaughtered. If you are looking for the mastermind, I think it would be a good idea to check out the people who have the most to gain from the ruling body being decimated." Ichigo proved he could understand odd situations quickly with the suggestion, it held a lot of merit.

"That would be any Captain, as well as the heads of the Noble families. Those two groups are what Central 46 affects the most with their decisions." Szayel answered this one, his research told him as much.

"Sounds like a good fight to me, might actually find someone worth the time," Nnoitra drawled after Szayel's response.

"Anytime spoon boy, anytime," Grimmjow grumbled, and Ichigo almost chuckled, Nnoitra did kind of look like he was wearing a satellite dish on his head.

"If you are going to fight do it outside, or you are both cleaning it up." Ulquiorra ordered them, a hint of exasperation in his stoic voice.

Grimmjow rolled his eyes, while Nnoitra suddenly straightened, "Well this meeting is getting boring, why don't we bring the new guy out with us and put him through his paces?"

That seemed to be the end of it, the Espada splitting in half, one part heading back to their quarters, while Nnoitra, Grimmjow, Ulquiorra, and Szayel pulled Starrk and Ichigo out of the meeting hall.

"What if I don't feel like fighting?" Ichigo protested, turning to Starrk, "I would rather just go meet Lilynette."

"Tough, I sat through that boring as Hell meeting just for the chance to fight you. Now get ready," Nnoitra warned, a hand clamping down on Ichigo's shoulder, matching him out to their training area, far far away from any of the structure of Las Noches.

Szayel was looking sharply between Starrk and Ichigo, trying to figure out why the strongest of them was allowing the Visored to be so clingy. "Don't worry about it Pinky, you'll figure it out soon enough." Grimmjow teased as he saw the action from the scientist. "Wait, since when do you fight with the rest of us?"

Szayel stopped the indignant snort, "Oh, I'm not fighting, this is research, plus if one of you manages to kill someone the specimen is better if it is fresh."

Grimmjow shook his head slowly, "You're creepy, you know that right?"

"I used to think you had slightly more intelligence than a brick wall, I stand corrected. We've lived in close quarters how long, and you only just realized this?" Szayel snapped back, he enjoyed baiting Grimmjow, but knew not push too hard. He wasn't in the mood to research the feral Espada, it would be a waste of a fight.

"So did you figure them out yet?" Grimmjow asked conversationally, gesturing to Ichigo and Starrk.

"I have my suspicions," Szayel admitted, "It will be interesting if I am correct."

Grimmjow nodded, "Very interesting."

Szayel and Grimmjow settled onto one of the high piers set into the sand for observation purposes around the training yard, "Aren't you fighting him?"

Grimmjow shook his head, "Not right away, I want to see the look on Nnoitra's face when the Whelp makes him eat sand. Ulquiorra is down there, I can get the recording from him later if I want a replay."

"He is really that good?" Szayel asked skeptically.

"Yes he is," Grimmjow admitted. "He doesn't win every time, but he can beat me when he is worked up enough."

Szayel contemplated that for a moment, "So Starrk wasn't lying, he hadn't been holding back?"

Grimmjow shrugged, "Who knows? I don't think any of us have a clue what Starrk's true power is. He went harder on him than I have seen him do to most of us though, on the rare occasions we get him to fight. By the way, speaking of interesting, Starrk volunteered to teach Ichigo first, he willingly fought when he could have just left it to the rest of us."

"I see, so my suspicions are correct most likely. Any idea what caused it?" Szayel reclined back to rest on his hands, not fearing an attack by Grimmjow, there was no need for a fight and the panther was relatively calm.

Grimmjow didn't answer right away, more interested in watching the opening scuffle of the fight below him, grinning widely at the surprised yet gleeful face when the mantis didn't manage to slaughter Ichigo with one strike of Santa Teresa. Only when it settled into the steady back and forth of a spar did he reply, "All I know is Ulquiorra and I had gone off by ourselves, Ichigo heard us and woke thinking we were in danger. Starrk was there to calm him down and explain some things. When we got back to the group awhile later, they were kissing, and Starrk was issuing death threats for interrupting."

"Hmm, very interesting indeed." Szayel responded, looking out, but not focusing on the fight, instead his eyes sought out Starrk at the edge of the arena. His entire body was tense leaning subconsciously towards the fight, like he was arguing with himself about letting Ichigo fight alone or jumping in and helping him.

It was like when Lilynette got pulled into one of the generalized spars they had, the smaller half of the Primera far easier to goad into battle.

He was even more intrigued when Ulquiorra approached Starrk and started speaking softly to him, the tenseness slowly easing from Starrk's shoulders. Who knew the ever emotionless fourth Espada could calm down the strongest? Szayel wanted to know what Ulquiorra said to him, but doubted he would have a chance to find out.

Then it hit him what exactly Grimmjow had just admitted to, "Were you and Ulquiorra really that desperate you couldn't have gone far enough away to not wake the others up?"

"We could have, but didn't feel like it. Whelp would have found out at some point anyway. It took a bit for Ulquiorra to go along with it, but it was worth it." A leering grin at the end was just daring Szayel to ask for elaboration. "Plus you can't tell me you and Nnoitra wouldn't do something similar."

Szayel couldn't deny it, so he didn't even try, "Nnoitra wouldn't bother with waiting until I gave in, he would just take what he wanted."

"You would want it differently?" Grimmjow grinned wickedly when the only response was stony silence. "You should watch this part, the fight is almost over."

Szayel drug his attention over to the spar, and saw Ichigo reach up and claw his hand across his face, a white and red mask materializing under his fingertips while his Spiritual Pressure skyrocketed. "So that's a Visored." He commented, seeing the transition for the first time in person.

"Yes, and wait until you meet Junichi, he is going to be your most interesting research project yet." Grimmjow informed as he watched the newly transformed Ichigo beat into Nnoitra. It said something about his strength that he had managed to last so long against him without his mask.

Szayel was too busy watching Ichigo hack off one of Nnoitra's six arms, and the subsequent shock as the arm grew back, to answer right away. "He figured out how to cut him?"

"You really weren't watching the beginning were you?" Grimmjow realized, "The Whelp was able to draw blood before he switched into Bankai. He told the four of us about the people he fought in Soul Society, one of them was a Captain who was famed for being impossible to cut. Ichigo fought him to what amounted to a tie. That was before Ichigo learned Bankai, now he has control over his Hollow side, as well as a few weeks of intense training under us. What did you think we would be bringing back, a weakling?"

This time Szayel couldn't stop the snort of disbelief, "I wouldn't go that far, if he was a weakling, there would have been nothing left to bring back. I wonder though, he fights well against those who specialize in close combat, how do you think he would fair against someone like Zommari or my own release?"

Grimmjow cocked his head to the side thinking, "To tell the truth, you would have better luck than Zommari. The Whelp has a stubborn streak wider than Heuco Mundo, with a bit of motivation I believe he could overpower Zommari. You he would struggle against, since yours is not a direct attack. He might learn how to beat it. I'd like to see the first few fights though, been awhile since the Whelp was thoroughly beaten."

"Let me guess, he has no clue you can analyze him that deeply does he?" Szayel asked drily even as the possibility of fighting the Visored made him curious. It would be a test of his own skill as well by fighting a type of opponent he has never encountered before.

"Probably not, what good is having an advantage like that if everyone knows about it?" Grimmjow agreed.

Szayel watched the end of the fight come, Nnoitra was shocked enough to hesitate a fraction in a swing when the Visored's mask suddenly broke, leaving Ichigo an opening. The black blade of his Bankai nicking Nnoitra's throat, but not before one of the six scythes bit deeply into his left shoulder. Both fighters srung back out of the fight, clutching the respective bleeding part.

Szayel was not surprised when Nnoitra's wound was already knitting back together, but when Ichigo's began to do the same he was thoroughly shocked. "He can regenerate even when he doesn't have his mask?"

"A gift from his Hollow, as long as Junichi wants him to heal, he does. If his Hollow is mad and sulking at him, he doesn't." Grimmjow informed, watching as Starrk approached Ichigo to make sure everything was closing correctly. There was no doubt it would, but concern was still something new to him, being alone so long took its toll on his emotions.

"So he and his Hollow are close?" Research was always a priority.

"Most of the time yes, but both of them have very short tempers and little patience; they get mad at each other pretty often. The end result is usually something to see, every time they fight and get over it, they get stronger." Grimmjow assessed.

"So in other words, they are just like you and Nnoitra." Szayel was quick enough to dodge the fist aimed his way, jumping from the pier to go have a chat with the new member of their company. This would be an interesting subject of study, of that he was sure.


	8. Those Nights

**Comatose**

**Shadow of an Echo**

A/N I'm sorry it has taken me so long to update anything, real life highjacked my writing time just as Fanfiction started its policy crack down and I had to implement my plan B with my stories. If you want my official stance on the recent changes, and the link to my adultfanfiction account, please visit my profile when you are done reading.

**Chapter Seven**

**Those Nights**

Junichi was sulking, that was the only word for it. The Hollow wouldn't speak to him, and the only response Ichigo could get from him was an attack on his inner world, giving him a headache and putting him in a bad mood. Ichigo could have handled the situation a lot better he thought, if he could just figure out why his Hollow was sulking.

It wasn't as if they'd lost a fight that badly, their training was actually moving along quite well according to the Espada training him.

He tried one more time to reach the Hollow, _"If you don't tell me what's wrong I can't fix it." _He called into his own mind cautiously, he had learned that retreating into the sideways world was bad idea, Junichi would just attack him and not tell him anything anyway.

_"I'm frustrated!" _The Hollow finally caved, his displeasure rolling off him in waves. _"We aren't getting anywhere with these damn baby steps they are making us take."_

_"But just yesterday we even got a compliment from Baraggan." _He attempted to placate the Hollow, _"We re getting stronger, it's just taking awhile." _

_"We don't have awhile!" _Junichi protested sharply, _"Can't you feel it? Something is coming. I can't tell what, or when, but a move is being made by our opponents out in the real world while we are being coddled like children!" _

Ichigo's ever present scowl deepened at hearing that, _"Are you sure?"_

_"Positive," _Junichi deadpanned.

_"How on earth could you possibly know something like that?"_

_"I don't know, I just do, our time is up we need to be ready." _Junichi admitted and warned.

Ichigo knew ignoring him would be a bad idea, Junichi was a pain in the neck sometimes, but his warnings were nothing to ignore. Junichi would die if Ichigo did, it was in his own interest to protect them, even if it was just warning him of the approaching danger.

Now he just had to convince a few stubborn Espada to ratchet up the training, due to a gut feeling from a Hollow they barely knew let alone trusted. Well this would be fun… not so much.

The first one he ran into was Szayel, the pink haired scientist lurking around the sparring arena hoping for a fresh specimen. He caught the worried look on Ichigo's face instantly, "What happened?" He asked urgently, something that concerned the Visored might just be enough to chase away the boredom he was feeling.

"It's Junichi, he's worried there is going to be an attack soon. He thinks our training is going too slowly. Any chance we could speed it up?" No point in beating around the bush, it was better to get straight to the point.

The slightly mad smile that crossed the Octava's face was enough to make Ichigo wish he had ran into a different Espada first. "I wondered if the pace was going to start bothering you. From all the warnings from Urahara you should be able to learn much quicker than we have been showing you. Come with me, I think I know a way to hurry things along."

"What do you have in mind?" Ichigo asked as he followed the Espada back into the main building of Las Noches.

"A tournament of sorts." Szayel started out, "We have been training you according to your strengths, throwing new things at you slowly, and working from the bottom up. The usual way training is supposed to go. You learn differently though. Has anyone explained to you how we got our numbers?"

"You fought each other, and were ranked according to who won." Ichigo replied, "Starrk explained that much."

Szayel repressed a small snort, "I'm guessing that's the condensed version, but its true enough. I think its time you participated in our ranking battle, we do it every decade or so just to make sure we are still the strongest. It's only been five years since the last one, but I think it's justified to break pattern in this case."

Ichigo's eye twitched in irritation, "Why wasn't it done when I was first brought here?"

"Do you have a death wish?" Szayel asked calmly.

"I can't protect anyone if I'm dead." Ichigo countered.

"That's why. If we tried this when you first got here, you'd be dead. You may be tough enough to train with us, but you weren't ready to truly fight us. If you really want to speed up your training, the gloves have to come off at some point." He explained, not reacting to Ichigo's irritation, they had gotten used to his temper flares in the time he'd been at the fortress.

"I've been wanting everyone to fight fully since this whole thing started. Why all the damn lead up?" Ichigo grumbled again, tired of thinking the same thing over and over again. Junichi was right, they had been coddled like children, and it was demeaning.

Well at least he assumed they were being coddled, he was expecting to find himself in the sand far more often than he was. Oh well, hopefully they would get going for real. He learned best when fighting for his life, he had proven that when he invaded Soul Society.

"Were you listening to me at all?" Szayel protested. "I said earlier I wondered when the pace would start bothering you. We knew from the moment you got here the traditional approach probably wouldn't work on you, but it had to be you that called the change over. Otherwise, we really would kill you, because you would be off guard thinking it was just another training spar. In this tournament, anything goes. It's hard to kill us, but not impossible, and there have been more then just ten Espada; only three of our number were in the original set. Understand if you go through with this, you have a high chance of dying or ending up too injured to fight in the future."

Ichigo growled softly in irritation, something he discovered Starrk did just as much as Grimmjow only the Primera was quieter about it, "I need to face death. I gain the most strength when I face my own mortality. I need to walk the line. Hell according to Urahara I practically am the damn line since I am neither living nor dead."

"You'll get your chance now. I think this is going to be interesting." Szayel remarked.

"Can I ask you what might be an obvious question?"

"Can't stop you from asking, but I might not care to answer."

"Where the Hell are we going?"

"Oh we are going to round up the Espada, don't you want this over with?"

"Right now?"

"Did you have something else to do today?"

"Well, no," Ichigo was forced to admit.

Szayel smirked, "Then shut up and get yourself ready to fight, you'll start with Yammy and go up through the ranks until someone stops you. You will have two hours between each fight to get your wounds tended to and get rest. This is one more hour than we had, but since your body is different and actually needs things like rest, we are giving you the extra hour."

"So I just fight until I can't anymore? I will be fighting continuously, with a short break, but facing a fresh opponent after each battle. Do I have that right?" Ichigo asked for confirmation.

"Not exactly, yes you will be fighting continuously, but the next two to fight you will be sparring at the same time as your current battle. We get a warm up, and you won't be facing a completely fresh opponent. After you fight Arroniero, every opponent you face will have been sparring for at least two battles. If I know Grimmjow and Nnoitra they will probably not resist sparring before they have to, so I'd imagine they would be about on the same level of tiredness as you when you reach them."

Ichigo seemed a bit hesitant before asking his next question, "…What happens when I get to Starrk?"

Szayel cocked an eyebrow, looking the Visored over curiously, "What about it?"

"Can I trust him to go all out? Will he actually fight me?"

Szayel couldn't suppress his sigh at the question he should have seen coming, "If the miraculous event does occur that you make it through all nine of us to fight him, he won't disgrace you by holding back in the formal setting of the tournament. He might not like it, but he'll do it."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I am one of the original three," Szayel explained, "I have studied his habits for a long time. He only fights if there is a good reason for it, and he wouldn't dishonor an opponent by going to the trouble of fighting only to essentially let them win. He has too much pride, and too much honor, to do that to an opponent and that probably goes double for you."

"Does he really think so much of me?" Szayel almost didn't hear the quiet whisper, but he managed to catch the gist of it.

He was successful in repressing this sigh, "Think about all you've gotten up to while you've been here? It's been a long time since someone caught his interest so thoroughly."

For once Ichigo obeyed, and fell into silence in order to comply with the order. He thought back on his encounters with the Primera, starting with the introduction to his other half, Lilynette.

XXXFlash backXXX

Ichigo was sore, and felt bruised from head to toe, he had just finished his battle with Nnoitra, and while Junichi had healed the major injuries, the ache of strained muscle was still present and his clothes were in tatters. He put up no resistance as Starrk carefully checked him over to make sure Junichi's healing had been thorough enough.

"Can we just get out of here, please?" Ichigo begged quietly, and he wouldn't even deny the begging part. He hadn't wanted to fight Nnoitra to begin with, and now he had the aching muscles and blood loss to contend with. Nothing a few hours sleep wouldn't fix for him, but he couldn't very well curl up and nap on the sandy arena ground. Well Starrk might, but Ichigo didn't feel like letting his guard down around the newly introduced Espada.

Starrk glanced around, and seeing the brightly colored hair of the sixth and eighth Espada approaching them both more than enough to distract Nnoitra and Ulquiorra, he nodded at Ichigo's request, "Follow me, you will be staying with me, unless you feel more comfortable staying in your own room?"

Ichigo didn't even have to think about it, "Stay alone in a fortress full of strangers when I am not fully trained and have no idea what their powers are? I don't think so. Urahara may have me under his protection, but I don't particularly feel like being his loyalty test."

"That's what I thought you would say," Starrk nodded approvingly, and lead the exhausted Visored away from the defeated mantis, and stoically watching bat.

Ichigo only paid enough attention to learn the route between the arena and Starrk's quarters. He just didn't have the energy to observe much else, including the other Arrancar sharing Las Noches. There would be time to start figuring everyone out later. It hadn't been a long battle, but it was intense, and Ichigo knew it would take a few more times fighting him before he got used to Nnoitra's style and could spar without complete exhaustion.

They arrived at one of the towers that jutted up out of the desert sand, and Starrk led him inside, with an explanation, "Each Espada has their own tower, housing both them and their Fraccion, since I only have one, it's been just me and Lilynette in ours."

Ichigo couldn't stop himself from asking, "If you were that lonely, how come you didn't pick up more Fraccion when you arrived here?"

Starrk knew the question would come sooner or later, and had prepared himself for it, so his reply was unemotional. "I got tired of watching comrades wither away because they weren't quite strong enough to withstand my Spirit Pressure, even if I restrained myself as much as I could, some still escapes and I can't keep it confined all day every day it's simply not possible."

"I understand," Ichigo responded, and he did, or at least thought he did.

The stairs in the tower were the last obstacle to overcome before entering the well-lit and comfortable looking room at the top. Waiting for them inside was Lilynette.

When Starrk had first mentioned Lilynette, Ichigo had pictured a sedate woman, similar to Starrk himself. What he met when he was led through the door was a child that looked to be around Karin and Yuzu's age. She had sea foam green hair, and pink tinted eyes. Her mask fragment looked like a helmet with one full horn and one broken horn, but unlike Ulquiorra's hers covered the whole top of her head and one part descended down and covered one eye.

The young girl had her arms crossed over her skimpy uniform and a look of irritation on her face, "What took you so long?" She tore into the Primera as soon as she saw him, not noticing Ichigo standing behind him right away.

"Nnoitra wanted a spar," Starrk explained shortly, teasing her a bit with the short answers. They often riled each other up as a way to pass the time, and if they were constantly badgering each other it reminded them they weren't alone.

Lilynette snorted at his response, "And you just had to go along with it? You've been gone for weeks! And you ditch me for the overgrown spoon?"

"You misunderstand, it wasn't me sparring!" Starrk protested trying to defend himself, now surprised in that slightest with the angry yelling that followed.

"That's even worse! So you overlook me just to watch some dumb fight?" She bristled.

He shook his head quickly, "It was necessary, I wasn't interested in Nnoitra it was the person he was sparring with. I brought him to meet you."

Lilynette scowled, but looked behind her larger half, and caught sight of Ichigo, "So you're the reason I got ignored? Not much to look at are you?"

"Lilynette, stop that right now," Starrk stopped all playing at that, he would not allow their little game of insults to affect Ichigo, he was off limits.

A piercing gaze passed over the two males, Lilynette picking up on Starrk's intentions, and realizing what had caused him to suddenly break form. "Oh, all right, I'll back off on him. You two are so making it up to me though." She gave in, but she wasn't kidding she wasn't about to let Starrk get away with ignoring her in favor of someone else, even if it was someone of that kind of interest.

Ichigo hadn't been able to say a word during their exchange, he was too shocked taking it all in. This was not what he had been expecting at all. He attempted to smooth rumpled feathers when he heard Lilynette submit to Starrk's request, "If it helps, he talks about you a lot."

A raised eyebrow and a disbelieving shake of her head, "Starrk doesn't talk a lot about anything, well unless you count snoring as talking."

"He talked plenty," Ichigo was honestly confused, hey he was tired and he had just endured a shock in finding out Starrk's other half was a hyper young girl.

Starrk had to step in before Lilynette lost her temper again, "Lily I was able to talk, I didn't have to hold back around him."

That brought her out of her rage, and she suddenly found Ichigo's eyes very interesting, drilling her gaze into him far deeper than he had caught Starrk himself doing. "Really?"

"Yes," Starrk confirmed.

With that the irritation drained out of her, and she smiled brightly at him, "Then he can stay." She allowed, moving to the side so the two men could fully enter the room.

Ichigo found instead of a bed, there was a pile of cushions on the floor, large fluffy comfortable looking cushions. Without preamble, he threw himself onto the pile heavily, curling up to attempt to get some sleep.

Only to have his eyes snap open when Starrk joined him, pulling Ichigo into his chest like the Visored was some kind of pillow or large stuffed animal. Other than the light blush across his cheeks, Ichigo found he liked the closeness, and moved closer into the embrace.

Lilynette looked on and shook her head slowly at the display. So this Ichigo was really strong enough to hold up against their power? Hmm… he would bear watching. Though looking how her other half had claimed him for himself, watching him wouldn't be difficult. So with a shrug and another small smile, she curled up on her own pile of cushions and slowly drifted off.

XXXend flashbackXXX

With that memory playing in his mind, Ichigo followed Szayel without further protest. The Octava had been right, Starrk did care, he wouldn't have stood up to Lilynette for him other wise.

There had been other incidences of course, but for now they finally arrived at the Espada's hall, things were going to be set in motion for this tournament. Ichigo felt Junichi stir in his mind, his Hollow ready for the fight to come, and he couldn't blame the creature. Finally he would truly learn what he had come to Heuco Mundo for.

A/N2 I know it's short but it's finally here. Real life has been difficult, I feel like I've been run over by a steam roller. I did what I could for now. The next few chapters will probably include one flashback to an Ichigo/Starrk scene and one Espada battle until I run out of battles. That is the rough plan right now. The story just didn't want to flow right writing chronologically so hopefully this works.


	9. Update Information

Unfortunately this is not a new chapter, but it is an update of sorts. I have gotten some very bad news. I have been diagnosed with Epilepsy. There will be a lot of changes in my life including lots of doctors, pills, and a shiny new medic alert ID around my neck. I went to the doctor this summer for a completely different problem and it lead them to this, but tracing it back I've probably had it since childhood, just didn't know it.

What these means for my stories is I may not be updating for awhile, or I may be inspired and need to distract myself and you could get flooded with chapters, I don't know yet. Please be patient with me while I adjust to the changes I need to make.

Thank you so much for reading and enjoying my stories, it is very much appreciated,

Shadow of an Echo


	10. Open Wounds

Comatose

Shadow of an Echo

Chapter Nine

Open Wounds

The place Szayel had brought him to after they had made the rounds alerting the Espada to the coming tournament was a very large open field with piers sunk into the ground for observers to stand out of the way. It was a far distance from the compound of Las Noches, affording them room to let loose as much as they wanted to, Szayel explained that much.

Ichigo broke the silence that had descended between them while waiting for the others, "So, tell me honestly, how far do you think I will get?" No harm in getting an estimate, and if it was low, it gave him a goal to beat.

Szayel looked contemplative for a few moments, doing quick calculations in his head, "From what I've seen, you will probably make it to Ulquiorra before having significant problems as long as we are only talking about power levels. Those of us in the lower ranks have abilities that challenge the higher, but because we are not as strong in pure power we remain low. You could very well fall to one of us before you had the chance to face Ulquiorra, let alone anyone higher."

"So you're basically saying it's going to come down to luck?" That's sure what it sounded like to Ichigo.

"For the most part, battles usually do," Szayel replied, rolling his eyes at Ichigo's moments of naivety, "You can fight as harshly and strongly as you can, and you will still lose if your opponent gets a hit in at the right moment. Or the opposite can be true when you find and exploit a weakness you discover in your opponent; that also comes down to luck due to the fact they will not show you that weakness unless they make a mistake."

"That goes along with what I was taught before. I was told more battles were won over skill than power. I never thought of it as coming down to luck before, but I guess if you think about it that's exactly what it means. You better hope your skill just happens to be good enough to challenge someone with much higher power, otherwise you would die." Ichigo analyzed.

"That's right," Szayel agreed. "Nine time out of ten, I will lose to a fighter like Grimmjow, but it's that tenth time that counts for me. I can beat him, it just doesn't happen very often, and he has to be distracted or slowed down for some reason when I do." He was admittedly throwing Ichigo a bone. By explaining Grimmjow's style could beat him, he was steering Ichigo in the right direction to win. Szayel was not interested in winning against Ichigo, it made for much better research if he was able to observe more battles between Ichigo and the others.

Ichigo knew exactly what he was up to, "Whatever happened to all of you not holding back?" He accused sharply. He had already explained he wanted the gloves to come off.

"When did I say anything about holding back?" Szayel responded just as indignantly. "Granted I may have given you a bit of information that could give you a chance, but you have to figure it out from there, and no I will not hold back just because I gave you a hint."

"Why the hell did you do that?" Nnoitra's voice interrupted their conversation, the overgrown mantis strode into the arena like he owned the place; Santa Teresa slung over his shoulder casually. A quiet Tesra trailed the Espada, keeping to the background. "You don't give the brat hints, he either figures it out or doesn't." Judging by the exasperated tone from the Quinto, this was not the first time he had given the same warning to Szayel.

"What can I say? I like the research opportunities it affords me," Szayel answered with a shrug, surprising Ichigo that he would even bother to respond to Nnoitra much less tell the truth.

Nnoitra flung his head back and laughed, "You would, wouldn't you?" He observed, calming down enough to look at them again. "Fine do what you like, but someday it's going to come back and bite you on the ass."

"Glad you care so much," Szayel responded drily, crossing his arms in front of himself in a huff.

"You better," Nnoitra replied, completely ignoring Szayel's now grumpy mood.

Ichigo had watched the back and forth between the two silently, coming to a few conclusions about them just from the few moments of conversation. The way Tesra had a resigned look on his face at the banter only serving to confirm his suspicions.

"Whatcha lookin at brat?" Nnoitra had noticed the observation, and wasn't shy about confronting him.

Ichigo had to make a decision quick about whether to tell the truth or lie, then decided he was about to get beat up by the Espada anyway; might as well go for broke. "Nothing, nothing," He brushed off before continuing, "Only the two of you acting a lot like Grimmjow and Ulquiorra."

Instead of anger, Szayel's slightly insane laughter erupted in the training arena, "It took you this long to figure it out?" He couldn't stop laughing, this was too much. Nnoitra wasn't exactly quiet in his interest, and Szayel did nothing to dissuade him. He enjoyed the other's rough edges just fine thank you.

"I've suspected," Ichigo insisted, "I just never really saw confirmation until today."

"Like you can talk," Nnoitra scoffed, "Don't think we haven't seen what's going on between you and the primera. He's claimed you from the beginning."

Ichigo sighed, "I'm not even going to bother denying that."

"Good," A fourth voice joined in, quickly followed by Starrk approaching. Without prompting he went over to Ichigo and put an arm around his shoulders possessively. "I wouldn't want you to deny me. I certainly have no plans to hide you."

Ichigo leaned back into the taller body behind him, "Its news to me they thought we were hiding," He admitted.

"You two are rather horrible at keeping a secret," And that was Lilynette chiming in. The smaller half of the Primera Espada spoke in a tone half way between amusement and accusation.

Starrk used his free hand to give her a soft thump on the back of her head, her mask absorbing what little force there was behind the hit, "Don't you start." He warned. "We'll get enough grief from the others, don't need it from you too."

"If you didn't give me the opportunity, I wouldn't be able to give you any grief," Lilynette protested, swatting his hand away.

A familiar whistle sounded behind them, "Huh, Starrk beat us here? That would be a miracle if this was anything else." Grimmjow came into sight shaking his head, his own pack of Fraccion surrounding him.

Starrk stared him down, all the threats dealt out in the past few weeks had not halted Grimmjow's taunting in the slightest. Might be time to actually do something about that. "Grimmjow, if you survive this tournament, you will face me."

For a moment it looked like Grimmjow was ready to bolt, the only thing stopping him was Nnoitra and Szayel's taunting laughter. "Oh shut up you two." He growled. "Fine Starrk, you want a spar you'll get one."

All of his bravado was shot to hell when Starrk drawled his reply, "I never said I wanted a spar, I said you will face me. There's a difference."

"Goodbye Grimmjow," Nnoitra mocked.

Szayel finished the taunt, "You better hope he gives you mercy."

Only Ichigo was close enough to hear Starrk say, "Don't count on it."

At that point the rest of the Espada showed up in a steady flow, most of the Fraccion joining them because they did not want to miss a tournament of this magnitude. The battles were always exciting and sometimes extraordinary things happened during them. With it involving the impulsive and hot headed duo of Ichigo and Junichi, this was sure to be a day to remember.

Yammy was the last to show up, Ichigo no longer surprised at the little hollow puppy that followed the huge Espada around. Whatever possessed the dog to choose Yammy completely escaped Ichigo, but there could be no doubt he gave all his loyalty to his master. Soon the Tenth Espada focused in on Ichigo, both combatants sizing up their opponent.

Yammy didn't scare Ichigo. Though he did know better than to underestimate anyone classified as an Espada, that was a given. The reason he did not fear the large Arrancar was because he understood him and his fighting style; it was a lot like his own. That understanding meant of all the battles he faced today this was one of the few he was confident he had a chance at.

"Time to clear the arena and get this tournament underway," Barragan took charge over giving out orders, no one either brave or interested in the job enough to challenge him. "Novena and Octava, you should move to a better place to begin warming yourselves up."

The observing Arrancar all scattered to follow Barragan's orders, except of Nnoitra and Grimmjow. They were doing as predicted and going off by myself, Nnoitra throwing out the offer, "Well I'm not going to sit around waiting to fight, want to go tear up some desert Grimmjow?"

The mentioned Sexta didn't hesitate for a second, "Hell yeah!" And the two masters of mayhem went sonidoing out of range to avoid interfering with the Ranking battles. No one very surprised to see them go, even their own fraccions didn't bother trying to restrain them from leaving.

This left Ichigo and Yammy alone on the soon to be battlefield, ready for either one of them to give a signal that would start the fight.

The Espada was the first to lunge forward, Ichigo blocking the strike with Zangetsu as he leaped to the side. Another blow followed quickly, coming from above, forcing him to brace Zangetsu with his arm to keep Yammy's Zanpakuto from splitting his skull open. He took the heartbeats worth of time it took for Yammy to withdraw his sword and reset for another blow to race forward, using his Zanpakuto like a lance for a fast stab at Yammy's large body.

He drew blood with that move, Yammy was strong, but he was one of the slowest in the Espada. He roared in rage at the wound, far more angry than hurt, he charged at Ichigo, sword used like a battering ram to plow him over. Ichigo let himself fall to the ground to avoid the sword and twisted around to tangle Yammy's legs with his own, off balancing the Espada until he was forced to pull back his blade in order to steady himself, giving Ichigo time to leap to his feet.

Determined to hold back on using his Bankai or Junichi too soon, he reset himself as quickly as possible, immediately throwing himself back towards Yammy, Junichi yelling advice and orders in the depths of his inner world, the words echoing in his head.

The force and speed of his attack caught Yammy off guard, and he paid for the oversight with a large bleeding wound across his chest. The only thing stopping Ichigo's blade from ending the fight there was his tough Hierro and shielding rib cage.

His anger at letting himself get wounded fueled the next flurry of strikes. The force behind them pushing Ichigo backwards in the sand. He was able to brace himself and stop the slide a few feet back, once again coming at Yammy using his speed to exploit Yammy's ongoing weakness.

He was strong, very strong, but he was slowed down by his baulk. It just so happened that Ichigo wasn't just powerful, he was also fast. Dunking under the large Zanpakuto, coming up to slice Yammy from navel to clavicle, retreating a hair too slow and receiving a gash to his shoulder.

Jumping back with a curse, Junichi began the process of knitting their skin back together, but it was slower than most regeneration techniques since he had to funnel power through Ichigo before the healing could even begin. Thus for the next few minutes Ichigo fought with the handicap, one Yammy was all too happy to exploit, forgoing his Zanpakuto and landing a satisfying punch to Ichigo's side sending him flying across the arena, only stopping as he smacked hard into one of the observation piers.

Out of the cloud of dust the impact had thrown into the air Ichigo flung himself back into the fight, Zanpakuto held in front of him, ready to impale the Espada.

And that's exactly what he did, except instead of anywhere vital, he had driven the point all the way through Yammy's leg until the tip of Zangetsu appeared on the other side and the limb collapsed from the near severing, sending Yammy to the ground.

Ichigo had to duck between flailing fists and swords to approach, Yammy's anger clouding his mind so much he began to grow even as he abandoned any formal style. Ichigo had no doubt he was about to see Yammy's resurrection and knew he couldn't afford to let him finish.

Yammy was distracted by anger and transforming, he never saw the last blow land, Ichigo digging Zangetsu deeply into the Espada's neck, only stopping when he was an edge away from killing him, then he sliced downwards opening up the wound until he buried Zangetsu diagonally across Yammy's shoulder and then chest.

Blood sprayed from the huge wound, Yammy collapsing into the sand, shrinking back to his usual size. Only when his head hit the ground, unconscious from blood loss, did Ichigo relax his grip on Zangetsu so it was no longer trained on the other side of Yammy's throat.

With the end of the battle, and Ichigo's not entirely unpredicted win over with, the observing Espada leaped down from the observation towers leaving their fraccion behind so they could inspect the victorious Ichigo. Even Aaroniero and Szayel stopped their spar long enough to check out the scene.

"Not bad," Szayel observed the bleeding and unconscious body of Yammy, "Not bad at all. You didn't even need Bankai to win. I think a few of us might want to reassess our opinions of you." There was a little jerk of his head in Barragan's direction at the words. The Segunda Espada was not particularly fond of those that challenged either his authority or position in the ranks. He had a decidedly not pleased expression on his face at the display of power from the challenger.

Starrk was next to comment, but not before wrapping his arms around Ichigo from behind and resting his chin on the top of Ichigo's head. "Didn't have any doubt about this one," Starrk admitted. "I didn't know if you would need Bankai, but I knew you would win."

"Thanks," Ichigo responded, not pushing the wolfish Espada away, "Isn't anyone going to do something about him?" He gestured to Yammy, who had still not regained consciousness.

A sigh from Szayel, "If I must, he isn't very good research material anymore though. He has been through too many tournaments at the bottom of our ranks. I have already studied everything there is to study." He complained while summoning his own Fraccion to him so they could transport Yammy back to his lab and start the healing that would have to be finished when he either won or had his own wounds taken care of.

"Is that all you ever think about?" Starrk grumbled, the others taking a step or two back from the Espada of Madness. He might only be the Octava, but no doubt about the pink haired Arrancar was extraordinarily creepy.

Szayel just shot him a maniacal grin and continued giving orders to his unusual looking fraccion so the task could be finished as quickly as possible.

"You have a two hour break before your next match, use it wisely," Barragan decreed.

Ichigo nodded and walked away from the soiled sand where he fought Yammy, Starrk leading him along. They collapsed onto the sandy arena floor, Starrk checking over Ichigo's injuries to make sure they were healing up correctly.

"Junichi must be happy today, you are healing much better today," He observed, for the severity of wounds Ichigo had suffered he was already surprisingly put back together thanks to his Hollow.

"He's practically vibrating with excitement," Ichigo revealed, Junichi not able to argue the point when he felt so restless bouncing around the buildings like a pinball sounded like a viable option to rid himself of some extra energy. "We both agreed to wait to combine our strength until we had to. It's good to know how much of our achievement is my doing compared to his."

"I like that strategy for more than a gage of your strength, although that is a good reason too, personally I think it is unwise to show everything you can do when facing an opponent that doesn't call for it. You may never know who your next opponent will be and if they were watching your previous battles. A lot of time a moment of hesitation brought on by the shock of a newly shown power can be exploited to end the fight quickly." Starrk advised.

"I know," Ichigo assured, "You taught me well."

"It's you that learned well," Starrk deflected.

Ichigo didn't reply, he simply let his head fall onto the Espada's shoulder, not asleep but gathering as much energy as he could muster to help him get through the coming battles.

XxxxX

They were in the meeting hall again, several days after Ichigo's arrival, and there was a steady argument happening about who would be teaching him what. It had been going on for almost an hour and they had gotten nowhere with the plans.

Starrk couldn't take it anymore, as one of the few Espada staying out of the general melee he was starting to think he was surrounded by children the way the rest of them were acting. Barragan the only other Espada choosing to remain silent. He slammed his gloved fist on the table with a bang loud enough to draw all eyes to the normally unruffled Primera.

"Can we please for once act like we know what we are doing instead of striking at each other like a bunch of rabid animals?" He asked with no small amount of disgust and judgment.

Oh yeah something interesting about the Primera, he normally let Barragan give the orders, but everyone knew who truly held the top spot. When Starrk said jump, it was a very good idea to do so, because his orders were so few it was typically about something important when he did give them.

Well with one slightly rowdy exception, but he was used to Grimmjow's insubordination, and had long since given up even a token effort at changing him. This meant it was the Sexta who spoke first, "Care to tell us how it should be done then?" A challenge was hidden under his sarcasm.

"Why don't you let Ichigo decide who is going to teach him? It's his neck on the line." Starrk pointed out, knowing the Visored had been watching the mini-war with just as much disgust and annoyance as the Primera. He would have a pretty good idea of what each one specialized in from listening to the arguments.

Ichigo shot Starrk a glare for putting him on the spot like that, but he complied with the request. "Teach me what you know best, so long as it is strong enough to help me improve I don't really care." Instead of careful plotting, why not just let each of them choose for themselves? He didn't care if his training didn't go in a linear way, he was just itching to get started.

"Kid, you are going to regret that," Nnoitra's wide grin revealed his excitement as hearing Ichigo practically gift wrapped and handed himself over to the Espada for them to treat him like their own personal punching bag. This would be fun, for the Espada at least.

"I regret nothing, even if it does get my ass kicked," Ichigo shot back, "Getting back up teaches you more than never falling in the first place."

"He's got you there Nnoitra," The Quinto was surprised to find it wasn't Grimmjow or Szayel mocking him this time; it was Ulquiorra. Damn that Cuarta for being so bipolar in his participation, sometimes saying little, other times he made little digs and jabs just like he did now.

It often took a while to notice Ulquiorra actually had a sense of humor much less used it, even if he did put a dark twist on the concept.

"Don't you start," Nnoitra growled in response, upper body leaning threateningly across the table towards Ulquiorra to emphasize his point.

Ulquiorra raised one dark brow, "Start what?" He asked in faux innocence.

"Oh that's it!" Nnoitra spat out before launching himself towards the Cuarta, Santa Teresa in his hands.

Ulquiorra dodged the predicted move, shooting a cero at the enraged Quinto. He had put enough power behind the strike Nnoitra's hooded jacket was blown apart and he came up singed despite his overly tough Hierro. "Don't pursue something you can't hope to achieve." He warned calmly, internally feeling a brush of amusement at the interaction.

"If you value your skin, and the roof, could you not provoke him Nnoitra?" Harribel spoke up in defense of the meeting room. Nnoitra's charge had carved a rent in the table from the bottom crescent of Santa Teresa, and Ulquiorra's cero had taken out a good portion of the wall along with the Quinto. "You can both join in cleaning up this mess since you caused it," She ordered, gaining a glare from Nnoitra and a simple nod from Ulquiorra.

Meanwhile Ichigo was speaking quietly with Starrk, "Is it just me, or is Ulquiorra acting almost playful?" He had never thought to witness the day.

"In his own way, yes." Starrk confirmed. "He doesn't indulge himself very often, but he rarely passes up such a golden opportunity as what just happened with Nnoitra."

"Any more surprises I should brace myself for?" Ichigo asked somewhat ruefully.

"Well, Szayel isn't quite as mad as looks, he uses others overestimation against them. Grimmjow is actually pretty intelligent behind the bravado. Zommari has a sense of personal pride so high he actually considers himself selfless when it is exactly the opposite. Nnoitra only acts brash because it's better than wallowing in misery. Harribel is withdrawn around us for good reason, female Hollows are targets of malice and violence at a much higher frequency than the males. All of her fraccion are female Hollows she saved, and she still protects them viciously when they need her to. You've already noticed Ulquiorra does in fact have a sense of humor which he typically turns on Grimmjow and Nnoitra the most since they give him the best opportunity. The others are a lot closer to you getting what you see." Starrk informed, enjoying all the little idiosyncrasies about the Espada living here that made life interesting.

"Oh but you forgot my favorite Espada," And with that Ichigo put his hand on Starrk's upper thigh, forcing the Primera into attempting to hide the rising flush on his face.

"Oh and who's that?" Starrk played along, resting his own hand on top of Ichigo's where the table covered them from view.

"Hmm, well, he tends to sleep a lot, and he's got this thing with exploding wolves." Ichigo teased, having a great love of that particular ability of the Primera.

Starrk cracked a smile, "I like my wolves."

"I do too," Ichigo agreed. "Still, anything I should know about this wolf loving Espada?"

Starrk squeezed the hand over Ichigo's. "Want to know my favorite thing about wolves?"

"Sure," Ichigo replied as calmly as he could manage with his racing heart so they could continue their game unnoticed.

"They are very territorial, they claim what is there's and doesn't let anyone or anything take it from them." Starrk explained mischievously.

Ichigo didn't want the game to end there, "Do you have a claim on something here?"

"Nope," Starrk responded, enjoying the chase. "I have someone."

"Wouldn't happen to be a stubborn orange haired Visored would it?" Ichigo was willing to tease himself if it brought out the smile on Starrk's face, and it did.

"Possibly," He answered solemnly.

That was shot to pieces once he got a look at Ichigo's face showing the younger man was holding back laughter. When eye-contact was made, they both lost control and scared every single person seated around the table with their explosive laughter.

It was odd enough to hear Ichigo laugh, but for the Primera to join in was a new experience. The jaw-dropping commencing at the realization on caused the two further amusement.


End file.
